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Pakistan to chase 267-run target against NZ in 1st ODI

Pakistan to chase 267-run target against NZ in 1st ODI
November 8, 2018
ABU DHABI (92 News) – New Zealand on Wednesday set a target of 267-run for Pakistan to win the first one day international in Abu Dhabi. Pakistan’s leg-spinner Shadab Khan took three wickets in an over but New Zealand still scored 266-9. Shaheen Afridi removed both the openers in the first power-play and just when a partnership was building Kane Williamson fell to Shadab’s half-tracker. Shadab took 4 wickets for 38 while Shaheen Shah Afridi finished with 4-46. Post that, there was a big 130-run stand between Ross Taylor (80) and Tom Latham (68). Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat against Pakistan. 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, wants 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. The last two matches are in Abu Dhabi (Friday) and in Dubai (Sunday). Team squad: Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Junaid Khan New Zealand: George Worker, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult