Babar Azam and Michael Bracewell speak ahead of Pakistan vs New Zealand 1st T20I

Babar Azam of Pakistan and New Zealand’s Michael Bracewell on Wednesday held their pre-series media conference at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

The first T20I will be played on Thursday with the second and third on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The remaining two T20Is will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on 25 and 27 April, respectively.

Schedule for Thursday, 18 April:

• Toss will take place at 7pm with the first ball to be bowled at 7.30pm. After the match, both the sides will hold post-match media conferences. The PCB will provide unedited broadcast quality footage of the news conferences through its usual channels.

Squads:

Pakistan - Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohmmad Amir, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usama Mir, Usman Khan and Zaman Khan

New Zealand - Michael Bracewell (captian), Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Lister, Cole McConchie, Jimmy Neesham, Will O’Rourke, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi and Zak Foulkes.

Umpires - Ahsan Raza and Aleem Dar (on-field umpires)

Third umpire - Faisal Afridi

Fourth umpire – Rashid Riaz

Match referee - Andy Pycroft