Pakistan has announced a five-match T20I series against New Zealand. The series will commence on April 18, with the first T20I set to be played in Rawalpindi. This tour overlaps with IPL 2024, which is set to get underway on March 22. It will be interesting to see how many Kiwi stars will prioritize this tour over the IPL.
While Pakistani players have nothing to do with the IPL owing to their non-participation, that isn’t the case for New Zealand. Several members of the NZ T20I side are part of teams in the IPL. The list includes RachinRavindra, Daryll Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, and Lockie Ferguson, among others.
The series against New Zealand will be a crucial one for Pakistan, keeping in mind the upcoming T20 World Cup in 2024. However, it is unlikely that the ShaheenAfridi-led side will face a full-strength New Zealand XI. The Kiwis are likely to send a B team in the absence of their star players and veterans who will be playing in the IPL.
Something similar had happened in 2023 as well, when New Zealand was to tour Pakistan for five T20Is and as many ODIs in April and May. But as the series clashed with the IPL, their star players preferred the latter. The Kiwis still ended 2-2 with a second-string team, while they lost the ODIs 1-4.