Pakistan Aim To Kick Off World Cup Preparations With New Zealand ODIs
Muhammad Rameez Published January 09, 2023 | 12:30 PM
KARACHI, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jan, 2023 ) :It is the year of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup and Pakistan is scheduled to play at least 11 One-Day Internationals and the ACC Asia Cup before the mega event.
They were locked on points with eventual runners-up New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at the end of the round-robin but could not go through the last four because of a lower net run rate. The Babar Azam-captained side would want to better that in the 2023 edition and that they have had a good form in 50-over cricket augurs well.
Pakistan won all three series they played in 2022 against Australia, the West Indies, and the Netherlands. They whitewashed the last two oppositions in Multan and Rotterdam, winning eight straight matches.
Their first ODI assignment is against the Kiwis on Monday as they play them in three matches, which are part of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League. Though Pakistan is ranked sixth and New Zealand second on the 13-team points table from which the top seven sides and India secure automatic qualification, they are separated by only 10 points.
With top-ranked India at 139 points, if Pakistan is able to stretch their red-hot form with a series-cleaning streak and beat New Zealand 3-0, in what is their final series of the cycle, they would summit the table.
Babar Azam has said, "It is the year of the World Cup and we start our preparations for the tournament with this series. We are in good form in 50-over cricket and we want to ensure that we stretch it into 2023. Our ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League did not begin as per our expectations but it was the team's never-say-die attitude that has seen us to eight consecutive wins and a near-excellent ODI record in 2022.
"The conditions in India are going to be much similar to Pakistan so this is the right platform for us to test different combinations and see what clicks and what does not. I am sure the boys � at individual and collective levels � are raring to go and they will click as a unit.
The last time these two sides faced off was in the 2019 edition of the 50-over World Cup and it was Babar Azam's sublime 101 not out that helped them to a commanding six-wicket win in Birmingham. Their previous bilateral series (in 2018 in the UAE) ended 1-1 as the final match was washed out.
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