Intikhab was talking to reporters here after a briefing for the 16-member national team to leave for the tour in the wee hours of Friday. Pakistan will also play two Twenty20 matches in Dubai for which another 15-member team has been announced.
The selection committee had earlier announced a heavy-weight 16-member team with three specialist batsmen — Salman Butt, Imran Farhat and Khalid Latif — for just the three ODIs.
Pakistan, for the last several years, have been opening with Kamran Akmal or Shoaib Malik as the non-regular openers along with a regular one but have failed to find a formidable opening pair while the experts demand for a regular opening duo.
But Intikhab feels that playing with regular openers, might make it difficult for them to field a perfect winning combination.
We would like to play with regular openers but if we fail in coming up with a winning combination, we may also drop the idea to carry on with the previous practice, Intikhab told Dawn.
It has not been confirmed as yet and we will finalise a match-winning combination in Abu Dhabi after taking every point under consideration, he added.
Meanwhile, the experts of the game are of the view that it would not be possible for the touring selection committee, comprising the coach, Skipper Younis Khan and Chief Selector Iqbal Qasim to pick out a balanced team with regular openers as the selection was not made fairly.
If the touring selection committee picks the team on paper strength, then there are 13 strong candidates, barring Khalid Latif, Rao Iftikhar and Wahab Riaz. The big names are Imran Farhat, Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul and Mohammad Aamir.
Interestingly, the selection committee have picked both Razzaq and Naved. But when the same selection committee had preferred Rana Naved over Razzaq for the last assignment of the ICC Champions Trophy, they had defended the decision by saying that it was a competition between the two (Razzaq and Rana Naved) and that they had to select only one of them. But now instead of dropping Rana Naved, whose performance in the Trophy was not impressive, they have selected both for the short series, which is not as high-profile as compared to the Champions Trophy.
Meanwhile, Intikhab said that as chief selector Iqbal Qasim was also with the team, his presence would help them come up with a better solution in order to field a strong side against New Zealand.
Intikhab, while avoiding making claims of a clean sweep, he did, however, say that he saw New Zealand as underdogs and Pakistan as the favourites. Still, he said that beating them could also be a challenge.
He said that the Pakistan team was much stronger in the bowling department as it included world-class spinners of the likes of Afridi and Saeed besides a good fast bowling attack of Aamir, Umar Gul, Razzaq, Rana Naved, Rao and Wahab.
Intikhab said that the chief selector was the head of the touring selection committee as now neither the manager nor the vice-captain had any role to play in the team's selection.
To a question, he said that his own power in the touring selection committee had not changed.
About the pitches, Intikhab said that the ICC had set a standard for the wickets that have been prepared with assistance from Pakistani curators, who also visited the UAE.
About the briefing held earlier, he said that it was a routine talk where every player had been given instructions about his role. He said it was a necessary exercise, too, what with the new players and new members in the team management.
Abdul Raqeeb has been appointed as manager in place of Yawar Saeed, while Asad Mustafa got the position of assistant manager in place of Shafqat Rana, who has been named manager of the Under-19 team.
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