After landing in New Zealand, players spent time in isolation without being allowed to train in the ground or even in the gym, but players showed patience, respected the New Zealand government directives and accepted the extended quarantine after six members returned positive tests upon arrival.

Pakistan last toured New Zealand for a Test series four years ago in 2016. The hosts won the series 2-0. Pakistan last won a Test series in New Zealand in 2011.

Pakistan are to play three Twenty20 Internationals and two Test matches in New Zealand this season. The three-match T20I series starts on December 18 in Auckland. The Test series will start from December 26 at Mount Maunganui.

It will be a tough task for Babar Azam & company to beat New Zealand on their soil. Pakistan’s record in the longest version of the game is also not good.

In the upcoming series, it is expected that Pakistani bowlers will give their best on pacers-friendly tracks, but the batsmen as usual can let us down. The young batsmen lack experience and can face difficulty in playing on the fast and bouncy pitches.

The expected threat for Pakistan batsmen is short balls from the Kiwi fast bowlers.

In the past, the Green-shirts lost their wickets one after another on short balls on such pitches.

During the tour of New Zealand in 2016, Kiwi pacers unsettled Pakistan’s middle order during the first Test, bowling short-pitched deliveries, which claimed the wickets of Babar Azam, Younus Khan, Asad Shafiq, and captain Misbahul Haq in their second innings.

After Pakistan’s defeat against New Zealand, opening batsman Azhar Ali realised his team’s problem against short-pitched deliveries. He said that Pakistan are still working on their ability to handle short balls, but they required time to do that.

“If you come to this part of the world, you do expect short-pitched deliveries, you expect teams from the subcontinent to be tested with that short stuff and we all knew that,” Azhar said.

The T20I series against New Zealand is crucial to improve Pakistan ranking. Currently Pakistan stand on fourth place with 262 rating points and if the Green-shirts clean sweep the Kiwis, Pakistan could displace India who stand on the third position with 268 rating points.

New Zealand have now become a tough opponent for Pakistan. We have won only two out of the last 12 bilateral series across formats and venues against New Zealand.

In 2018, Pakistan beat them 2-1 in the home Test series in the UAE. They lost one Test by four runs while chasing a modest target of 176 despite gaining a 74-run first innings lead.

The Test series will be the first for Babar as skipper in the longest format. In October last year, Babar became Pakistan’s T20I captain. Since then he has averaged 55, striking at nearly 143, and has six fifties in 11 games. In May this year, he was appointed Pakistan’s ODI captain. Since then he has averaged 110.50.

Wicket-keeper batsman Muhammad Rizwan has been appointed vice-captain of the Pakistan Test squad. He has played only 9 Tests, scored 386 runs at an average over 35, including three fifties. With his great performances in the series in England with both bat and behind the stumps, Rizwan established himself as the first choice.

For the Test series, Pakistan dropped regular Test player Asad Shafiq due to lack of form. He managed only 510 runs in his last 15 innings, including a total of 67 runs in the England series.

Since making his debut against South Africa in 2010, Asad has missed just one Test, and none of the last 72. That is the longest consecutive streak of Test matches for a Pakistan cricketer. He left behind Javed Miandad, who managed 53.

Asad, after 77 Tests, has not grown into the batsman Pakistan wanted him to be. In 128 Test innings he scored 4660 runs, averaging 38.19, including 12 centuries and 27 fifties.

Chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq explained that dropping the seniors was not easy but to give experience to young players the decision had to be taken.

The Test series between the two countries is also important for Pakistan to gain valuable points in the ICC World Test Championship. Currently Pakistan (7th position) are far behind the hosts who are second.

The two teams have played 58 Tests. Pakistan clearly have the upper hand with 25 wins. New Zealand remained successful on 12 occasions. But that is history; New Zealand are much stronger now. The Kiwis outclassed West Indies by an innings and 134 runs in the first Test of their ongoing series.

Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad is the most successful batsman between the two teams with 1919 runs in 18 Tests, with a high average 79.95, including seven hundred and six fifties. Asif Iqbal (1113) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (1059) are the other batsmen who scored over 1000 runs against New Zealand.

For the Kiwis, former skipper Martin Crowe scored most 973 runs against Pakistan, averaging 57.23 with the help of two centuries and six half-centuries.

Waqar Younis is on top with 70 wickets in 13 Tests, at an average of 19.60. Wasim Akram is behind him with 60 scalps in 9 matches, averaging 17.01. Former Kiwi all-rounder Richard Hadlee took 51 wickets against Pakistan in 12 matches with the average of 28.39.

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