Why are Devon Conway and Azam Khan not playing 4th T20I between New Zealand vs Pakistan 2024?

New Zealand and Pakistan are locking horns in the fourth T20I of the five-match series on Friday, January 19 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch. New Zealand captain won the toss for the first time in the series and gave Pakistan their first chance to bat first.

There were some changes on both sides as new faces were given a chance. New Zealand had to make one forced change as their opener Devon Conway tested positive for COVID-19 one day ahead of the game. New Zealand Cricket informed that the 32-year-old has been put in isolation at the team hotel in Christchurch.

Notably, Conway wasn’t in the best of forms in the series as accumulating just 27 runs across three innings so far with scores of 0, 20 and 7 to his name. Conway has been replaced by right-handed batter Will Young. The 31-year-old has played 14 T20Is in his career scoring 260 runs at an average of 20.

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Apart from Conway, New Zealand made one more change as wrist spinner Ish Sodhi was rested to make way for fast bowler Adam Milne. Notably, Sodhi has picked four wickets from three matches of the series so far while Milne has taken six scalps from two games being the third-highest wicket-taker.

Pakistan drop Azam Khan to make way for Sahibzada Farhan

The right-arm seamer has played 49 T20Is so far and scalped 56 wickets at an average of 24.32. On the other hand, Pakistan made one change to their playing XI as they dropped wicketkeeper-batter Azam Khan to make way for Sahibzada Farhan.  The 27-year-old has played three T20Is so far and scored 40 runs. In the three matches of the series so far, Azam could only manage to score 22 runs.

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Meanwhile, Pakistan will be desperate to avoid a whitewash by registering a win in the fourth T20I. They’re trailing the series by 0-3 as New Zealand have been dominant in the first three matches with Finn Allen being the top scorer with 245 runs from three innings.