New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson opted to bat first after winning the toss against Pakistan in the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup. 

This is the fourth time that the Men in Green and the Blackcaps are seeing each other in a world cup semi-final. 

The two sides have clashed six times in the T20 World Cup history, so far, and Pakistan triumphed in four matches, while New Zealand has managed to win two.

The 2009 champions had a heartbreaking start to their campaign when they lost a last-ball thriller to arch-rivals India, and then suffered a shock defeat to Zimbabwe in the next match.

They looked dead and buried, and victory over the Netherlands was hardly impressive as they lost four wickets in their modest chase of 92.

But Pakistan conjured up a dominant performance to hammer South Africa and revive their semi-final hopes, while the Dutch did them a favour by stunning South Africa.

Babar Azam's team won a do-or-die clash against Bangladesh to enter the final four.

The Black Caps, who are yet to win a T20 world cup, had a resounding start to the tournament with an 89-run thrashing of Australia, setting the tone for their campaign so far.

A washout against Afghanistan did not stop their momentum. They thrashed Sri Lanka with Glenn Phillips smashing the second century of this World Cup with his 64-ball 104.

New Zealand faltered in their chase of 180 against England but regrouped to outplay minnows Ireland as skipper Kane Williamson struck form with a quickfire 61.

Both the teams have decided to stay with the playing XI they had in their last match. 

Playing XI
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Devon Conway (wk), Finn Allen, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner,  Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.