AUCKLAND: New Zealand opening batter Devon Conway believes his side’s familiarity with touring Pakistan will hold them in good stead when the five-match Twenty20 International series begins from Friday.

The Black Caps toured Pakistan in April last year, the five-match series ending in a 2-2 draw and Conway said his side has an idea on how their opponents “approach the game”.

“We have played a lot of cricket against Pakistan, particularly in white-ball cricket,” Conway said in a video shared by New Zealand Cricket on Tuesday. “They’re a very skillful unit with bat and ball. They’ve got some really quality fast bowling and some quality batters up front.

“So, for us, we’ve got a good idea as to how they approach things, and it’s always a good challenge playing against Pakistan specifically in white-ball cricket.”

The series opener will be held in Eden Park with the next game to be played in Hamilton’s Seddon Park. The University Oval in Dunedin is the venue for the third game with the last two matches of the series being played at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.

“It’s always exciting … I think the opening game at Eden Park is very exciting,” said Conway. “We generally get a really good crowd there, and the atmosphere is electric at Eden Park. It’s a great opportunity for us to travel up and down the country, play at different venues, and play in front of our home fans. So, we’re looking forward to it.”

Pakistan, led by newly-appointed captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, held their first training session of the tour at Eden Park on Tuesday with fast bowlers Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan and spinner Usama Mir joining the squad after their commitments in Australia’s Big Bash League.

Shaheen, former skipper Babar Azam, wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan, top-oder batter Saim Ayub and all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz also travelled from Australia after featuring in the three-match Test series which Pakistan lost 3-0 to the hosts.

Other members of the squad, including opener Fakhar Zaman, travelled from Pakistan after a preparatory camp in Lahore with the team holding a three-hour practice session.

Slinger Zaman was seen bowling at full tilt in the nets. He impressed in the BBL once again, bowling searing yorkers against Glenn Maxwell.

Zaman bowled out Maxwell with one of his yorkers, which became one of the moments of the match between Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars.

One of the videos of the session posted on platform X, formerly Twitter, showed Shaheen hitting a no-look shot.

There were also hints dropped that Pakistan could have a new opening pair of Saim and Rizwan, who faced facers Shaheen, Haris and Zaman.

Babar, who used to open with recently-named vice-captain Rizwan, was seen facing spinners.

Conway, who had been featuring in the Super Smash — New Zealand’s domestic T20 competition, said it was nice to link up with the national team again. He had sat out the recent three-match T20 series against Bangladesh which ended in a 1-1 draw.

“It’s always nice to see the guys again, and yeah, looking forward to spending some time with the group,” he said. “Yeah, it’s been great to have a nice break.

“Grateful to NZC for allowing me the opportunity to have this break, but yeah, certainly very exciting coming into T20 cricket. It brings that exciting factor, so yeah, looking forward to the series coming up.

“There’s a lot of cricket coming up, and as a player, you want to play as much as you can. There’s a good mixture of T20 cricket and Test Cricket against quality teams. So, you know, there’s not more you can ask for as a player.”

Conway was also looking forward to opening the batting with the explosive Finn Allen.

“It’s been great to see how Finn’s been going,” he said. “He’s a very dynamic, exciting player to watch, and he’s been doing really well in the Super Smash. He’s a great guy to open the batting with because he’s very powerful and makes your role quite easy to get him on strike.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024