The legendary New Zealand pacer Tim Southee took four wickets against Pakistan in the first T20I match at Auckland's Eden Park to become the first-ever cricketer to take 150 wickets in the shortest format of the game.

In-form Daryl Mitchell and the returning captain Kane Williamson registered quickfire fifties to help New Zealand score a total of 226/8, the biggest-ever total against Pakistan in T20Is, at Auckland's Eden Park on Friday.

The series will be crucial for both teams keeping in mind the T20 World Cup that is set to take place later this year in the West Indies and the USA. The five-match T20I series is set to commence on January 12 even as Kane Williamson is also set to return for New Zealand.

After suffering a 0-3 defeat against Australia, the Pakistani cricket team takes on New Zealand in the five-match T20I series starting at Eden Park, Auckland on January 11. The Kiwis have won two of the last three T20I encounters against Pakistan and are favourites on Thursday.

PAK tour of NZ: Pakistan will be touring New Zealand for a five-match T20I series against the Blackcaps. New Zealand Cricket has named an experienced squad for the series with some key decisions made. Kane Williamson is back to lead the side.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson missed the recent ODI series against Bangladesh at home and has been withdrawn from the squad for the three-match T20I series starting on December 27 to keep him fresh for the summer Tests.

Devon Conway was not considered for selection as the southpaw continues to take some time off the game after a hectic run. On the other hand, Trent Boult made himself unavailable for selection.

Glenn Phillips turned up for the occasion again by scoring an unbeaten 40 runs off 48 balls in the fourth innings to help New Zealand chase down a 138-run target with four wickets remaining. A win also helped Kiwis to jump to third position in the WTC points table.

Shubman Gill assumed Gujarat Titans' captaincy after Hardik Pandya made a move back to the Mumbai Indians ahead of the 2024 edition of the IPL. However, former South Africa great AB de Villiers feels that the Titans could have gone with an experienced option rather than throwing Gill in the role.

Bangladesh and New Zealand are currently engaged in a two-match Test series which is a part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle. This is the first series for both teams in the ongoing cycle.

Former New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has continued his merry run in Test cricket despite playing the format for the first time in eight months. He is currently featuring in the ongoing first Test against Bangladesh and has batted superbly in testing conditions in first innings.

Bangladesh and New Zealand began their World Test Championship campaign in the first of the two-match Test series in Sylhet on Tuesday (November 28). After opting to bat, the hosts put up a decent show with the bat in testing conditions posting 310 runs for the loss of nine wickets.

Bangladesh and New Zealand will lock horns in the first Test of the two-match series starting from November 28 in Sylhet. Kane Williamson will be key for the visitors as the pitch is expected to turn right from Day 1 even as both teams start their World Test Championship (WTC) campaign.

BAN vs NZ Pitch Report: Bangladesh lost against Zimbabwe in the only Test match player at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on November 18 which turned out as a low-scoring fixture with both pacers and spinners dominating the playing conditions.

Hardik Pandya has led Gujarat Titans to IPL glory in 2022 and a final appearance in 2023. He has been at the helm of GT's golden start to IPL. But his potential trade opens a big captaincy void. Here are 5 players who can come in for Pandya.

Rohit Sharma continued his red-hot form by smashing a quickfire 47 runs off just 31 balls in the final and claimed the record for most runs scored by a captain at the ODI World Cup edition. He broke New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson's record set during the 2019 edition.

Rohit Sharma has been in great form in the World Cup opening the innings for India. He boasts of a strike-rate of more than 133 in the powerplay overs as well. He has also scored a century against Afghanistan smashing 131 runs. But which record of Williamson can he break?

Chasing a huge 398-run target in World Cup semifinal, Daryl Mitchell registered a brilliant hundred against India to keep New Zealand alive at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. He broke Brendon McCullum's record for most sixes in ODI World Cup edition to script history.

After opting to bat first, India got off to a brilliant start thanks to their skipper Rohit Sharma who took the onus on himself to score runs. He looked set to cross the 50-run mark but was undone by a slower ball from Tim Southee and Kane Williamson took a brilliant running catch.

The Men in Blue will take on New Zealand in the first semifinal of the World Cup 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 15 whereas the second semifinal will witness the clash between Australia and South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.