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Pakistan team leaves for New Zealand |
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Updated at:
1600
PST, Sunday, November 15, 2009 |
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DUBAI: Coach Intikhab Alam identified batting as the key area for improvement as the 17-member Pakistan squad minus Younis Khan flew to New Zealand early Sunday to play a three-match Test series.
Younis opted to sit out the New Zealand tour and hand the captaincy to Mohammad Yousuf after his side's one-day series defeat in Abu Dhabi last week, saying he wanted to rest after suffering poor batting form.
Yet it was not only him, the batsmen faltering badly in the one-day series which New Zealand won 2-1. Pakistan won the two-match Twenty20 series 2-0 here on Friday.
"Our batting must click and show improvement because it will be tough to switch from one-day and Twenty20," Intikhab told a foreign news agency. "Our bowling has the capacity to bowl New Zealand out twice but we must put runs on the board first."
Intikhab Alam, who took over as coach after Australian Geoff Lawson was sacked in October last year, said Younis's absence was a blow, but appeared to harbour no bitterness.
Pakistan open the tour with a three-day game against New Zealand Invitational XI at Queenstown from Wednesday before the first Test starts at Dunedin from November 24.
Intikhab said conditions in New Zealand will also test his players.
"It is an early start to the season and conditions will be tough because the weather will be very cold but I hope all the players show professionalism and adjust to the conditions," said Intikhab Alam, a former captain.
The three-Test series, like the limited-overs series played in the United Arab Emirates, was scheduled for Pakistan but had to be relocated after New Zealand refused to tour over security fears.
After the New Zealand tour, Pakistan will move to Australia to play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20.
Squad: Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf (capt), Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal (wk), Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamir, Abdur Rauf, Umer Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmad. |
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ISSN 1563-9479 
