New Zealand vs Scotland LIVE score, T20 World Cup 2021: Scotland wins toss, opts to bowl; NZ unchanged

Hello and welcome to Sportstar's LIVE coverage of the T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12 match between New Zealand and Scotland from the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.

STAT ALERT: Martin Guptill needs 24 runs to complete 3000 T20I runs and become only the second batter - after Virat Kohli - to reach the landmark.

New Zealand Playing XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson (c), Devon Conway (wk), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult

Scotland Playing XI: George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer (c), Matthew Cross (wk), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Alasdair Evans, Brad Wheal

Dubai in T20 World Cup 2021:

Batting first won:1

Batting second won: 7

Average first innings score: 126

Here's a look at the predicted playing XIs from this match.

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson (c), Devon Conway (wk), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult

Scotland: George Munsey, Matthew Cross(wk), Calum MacLeod, Richie Berrington(c), Craig Wallace, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Josh Davey, Safyaan Sharif, Bradley Wheal

Head-to-head:

New Zealand beat Scotland by seven wickets at the T20 World Cup 2009 in the solitary encounter between the sides in T20Is. Martin Guptill and Scotland's Kyle Coetzer and Calum MacLeod are the only players from that fixture to feature in today's match.

MATCH PREVIEW:

A ruthless New Zealand will be eyeing a solid knockout punch of Scotland to strengthen its chances of qualifying for the semifinals in a Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup here on Wednesday.

Handed a defeat by Pakistan in its tournament opener, Kane Williamson and his troops made a strong comeback in their next game. They produced a clinical performance to beat tournament favourite India by eight wickets, taking a giant stride towards a semifinal spot.

New Zealand needs to win its remaining three matches to make the last four, so the Black Caps can ill afford to slip up. They will also be eyeing dominant wins to improve their net run-rate which could come into play later on. Having already played Pakistan and India, they’re expected to breeze past Scotland and Namibia while the clash against Afghanistan could be tricky.

Scotland, on the other hand, entered the Super 12s stage high on confidence, having beaten all its opponents in the qualifiers but things have gone awry for the Scots as they slumped to back-to-back defeats at the hands of Namibia and Afghanistan.

Against Afghanistan, they were skittled out for a paltry 60 in 10.2 overs and were handed a 130-run defeat. In their second game, they were a touch better, managing 109 in 20 overs. But against a top team like New Zealand they will have to give a better account of themselves.

Scotland bowled its heart out against Namibia but its batters’ inability to put enough runs on the board led to its downfall once again. The batting trio of Richie Berrington, George Munsey and Matthew Cross produced the goods in the qualifying matches but its batting line-up has looked clueless in Super 12s.

(-PTI)

FULL REPORT: T20 World Cup: Scottish challenge next up for in-form New Zealand

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