ABU DHABI: New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first against Pakistan in first One Day International (ODI) in Abu Dhabi.
Talking after the toss, Kiwi captain Kane Williamson stated that they will try to put a good score on the board. “We will try to put pressure on Pakistan with a good total,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistani captain Sarfraz Ahmed said that he would also have opted for bat incase of winning the toss.
Earlier, Sarfraz Ahmed insists his team can end an 11-match losing run to New Zealand when the two sides meet in the first one-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, also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
But Sarfraz, part of the team in the last 11 one-day internationals all of which Pakistan lost, want to finally win against New Zealand.
“It´s important to break that losing streak and we need to bring improvement in our performance in one-day internationals,” said Sarfraz on Tuesday.
Pakistan lost the last two matches in a 3-2 series defeat in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2014, before losing 2-0 in 2015, 2-0 in 2016 and 5-0 in January 2018 — all in New Zealand.
“If you look at our losses most of them were in New Zealand where conditions were different and we lost due to top order failure where we need to improve,” said Sarfraz.
Teams:
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, George Worker
Umpires: Joe Wilson (WIS) and Shozab Raza (PAK)
Tv umpire: Nigel LIong (ENG)
Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)
