ABU DHABI – Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed insists his team can end an11-match losing run to New Zealand when the two sides meet in the firstone-day international in Abu Dhabi today.
Pakistan crushed New Zealand 3-0 in the preceding Twenty20 series on Sunday– their second whitewash in a week following a romp over Australia, alsoin Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
But Sarfraz, part of the team in the last 11 one-day internationals all ofwhich Pakistan lost, want to finally win against New Zealand.
“It´s important to break that losing streak and we need to bringimprovement in our performance in one-day internationals,” said Sarfraz onTuesday.
Pakistan lost the last two matches in a 3-2 series defeat in United ArabEmirates (UAE) in 2014, before losing 2-0 in 2015, 2-0 in 2016 and 5-0 inJanuary 2018 — all in New Zealand.
“If you look at our losses most of them were in New Zealand whereconditions were different and we lost due to top order failure where weneed to improve,” said Sarfraz.
Pakistan also failed to qualify for the final of the Asia Cup held in UAEtwo months ago, losing both their matches against arch-rivals India andgoing down to Bangladesh in a clash which decided the finalist.
India won the Asia Cup by beating Bangladesh.
Sarfraz said a tough opponent in New Zealand – ranked third to Pakistan´sfifth in one-day standings — will help the team build for next year´sWorld Cup in England.
“New Zealand is a good team of this format but we have momentum of theTwenty20 series so we must win this series and that will help towardsbuilding towards the World Cup,” said Sarfraz.
The last two matches are in Abu Dhabi (Friday) and in Dubai (Sunday).Pakistan then play South Africa in South Africa, Australia (in UAE) andEngland in England — five one-day internationals each — before the WorldCup.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson played down the winning streak againstPakistan, saying it will be a new series.
“It´s a new series and a fresh start,” said Williamson. “I guess it´s anice statistic to have but at the end of the day, come tomorrow, its a newseries.”
Williamson praised Pakistan as a limited over side.
“They are always a strong side and no matter the format,” said Williamson.”They have a lot of depth. We simply know they have been here for some timeand they know these conditions and they have had lots of success.
“We are in here for a tough battle.”
New Zealand will welcome pace spearhead Trent Boult who missed the Twenty20series due to personal reasons while also adding batsman George Worker andspinner Ajaz Patel (as a cover for injured Todd Astle) in the squad.——————————
*Teams*——————————
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Colin deGrandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, HenryNicholls, Ajaz Patel, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling,George WorkerPakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez,Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, FaheemAshraf, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman KhanShinwari