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Kiwis Hope To Build On T20 Performances Against Pakistan

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Anchored by player of the series Mark Champan’s unbeaten century in the fifth and final game, New Zealand drew the T20 series 2-2 after losing the first two matches at Lahore.

An inexperienced New Zealand white- ball platoon will aim to carry its strong Twenty20 performances over to the five- match ODI series against Pakistan when it starts Thursday.

Anchored by player of the series Mark Champan’s unbeaten century in the fifth and final game, New Zealand drew the T20 series 2- 2 after losing the first two matches at Lahore.

“We were presumably a little bit rare, but I suppose from game to game we got better and better, ” New Zealand captain Tom Latham told journalists on the dusk of the first ODI at Pindi Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. “ Now we ’ve got a couple of changes in the team and from our point of view, it’s just about trying to play our brand of justice as stylish we can.

“The performances and the instigation that we ’ve potentially erected through the T20s, hopefully, we can take that straight into the game hereafter. ”

New Zealand included Chapman for the five- match ODI series in Pakistan after the left- hander scored 290 runs in five matches and was dismissed just formerly. Tom Blundell and Henry Nicholls have also joined the team for the ODI series as New Zealand is traveling Pakistan without eight of its frontline white- ball players, who are busy playing in the Indian Premier League.

“Mark Chapman has been in fantastic form throughout that T20 series, ” Latham said of the middle- order batter, who has played seven ODIs but hasn’t featured in the 50- over format for New Zealand since July 2022. “ The way he played not only in that last game but also the game beforehand, it’s obviously great that we can we can include him in the team as well. ”

Tom Latham wasn’t willing to look ahead to the World Cup in India latterly this time when several of his countrymen playing in the IPL will probably be in contention.

“We ’re trying to not look too far ahead, ” Latham said. “ There’s a World Cup coming up in a many months, but if we look too far ahead, we ’ll presumably lose focus of the job at hand then over the coming two weeks. So we ’re looking forward to the challenge and hopefully, we can play well. ”

Pakistan, under its each- format captain Babar Azam, has a below- par home season that saw them losing the T20 series against England at home before the T20 World Cup in Australia.

England also made a 3- 0 clean reach in the test series, while New Zealand drew the test series 0- 0 before winning a three- match ODI series 2- 1 before this time.

Pakistan has added wicketkeeper- batter Mohammad Haris to the team as part of its figure- up for the World Cup. Pakistan is also listed to play three ODIs against Afghanistan in August and the Asia Cup in September before the World Cup in India.

“Each and every match that we play from now on holds a great significance for us, ” Azam said. “ This series is a brilliant occasion for us to fine- tune our combinations and gather the instigation ahead of the mega events. ”

Pakistan has beefed up its fur lineup with the addition of Imam- ul- Haq, Haris Sohail and Abdullah Shafique while leg- incentive Usama Mir also returns after being ignored for the T20 series.

Rawalpindi will host the first ODIs before Karachi hosts the remaining three ODIs. Know More Latest Cricket News…

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