New Zealand - Papua New Guinea Predictions & Betting tips - ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Prediction published on 15/06/2024, 13:02  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 15/06/2024 at 13:07

New Zealand and Papua New Guinea will face off in their final Group C match of the 2024 T20 World Cup on Monday afternoon. This is a dead-rubber match, with neither of these sides able to qualify for the Super Eight. New Zealand were strongly backed to emerge alongside the West Indies as qualifiers from this group, but things have not gone as planned. They will take their final bow of the competition in this match, having only managed one win in their three matches, leaving them four points behind the top two sides. The Black Caps' sole victory came on Saturday when they beat Uganda by a massive nine wickets. However, it was too little too late, having lost their first two matches, while Afghanistan and the Windies have gone through the group unbeaten. New Zealand have never faced Papua New Guinea in a T20 international in the past but are unsurprisingly massive favourites, with some bookies opting not to provide a price on a win for the Black Caps. 

Meanwhile, if nothing else, this has been an excellent learning curve for Papua New Guinea, who have gained themselves a fair few fans this year. They have certainly looked a side that can rise to prominence in the future, though they have some way to go until they can go toe-to-toe with the big boys. The Barramundis put up a valiant effort against the West Indies in their tournament opener but came up short by five wickets. However, their next two games saw them fail to score more than 100 runs in either and ended in fairly hefty defeats. Still, they have one more chance to leave their mark on the competition in this match, though, it will come as a massive shock if they manage to beat the Black Caps in this one.