Both New Zealand and Pakistan were out-played in their opening Super Eight games and the loser of this match will almost certainly be heading for the exit. Pakistan, the defending champions, have the most reasons to worry after an unconvincing opening week in which they lost twice and only managed to beat Bangladesh. They began the Super Eights with a six-wicket defeat by England after their batsmen posted 147. Two losses in a row would weigh down most teams but with Pakistan there is always the chance of a magical follow-up. Their first goal is to fix some sloppy fielding - five catches were dropped against England - and then to find a batsman who can blast a rapid half-century to take them to a score of 170-plus.
New Zealand started the tournament with two wins to top their group, but life became harder against South Africa and their chase fell 13 runs short. Their bowling is a problem and Daniel Vettori wants it fixed.
"We have to improve on that pretty quickly, going into two must-win games now," he said. Teams cannot afford back-to-back slip-ups at this stage and this match will help determine whether New Zealand reach their almost traditional semi-final spot at a major tournament.
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