NZ vs PAK | New Zealand have the desired fire-power to beat Pakistan, believes Tom Latham
Tom Latham is of the belief that New Zealand have the desired firepower to succeed in the upcoming limited overs series against Pakistan, comprising three ODIs and five T20Is. He further stated that captaincy will not act as an added pressure, and laid emphasis on adapting and execution.
New Zealand will play Pakistan in three ODIs and five T20Is in Rawalpindi and Lahore respectively, beginning Friday, September 17.
The Blackcaps, touring the country for the first time in 18 years, are without the services of most of their senior players, much like they were during their recent 2-3 T20I series loss in Bangladesh. However, stand-in skipper Tom Latham is confident that his team is capable to challenge the hosts.
"We know it is special for Pakistan to have cricket in their country and we are excited to be here," Latham said on the eve of the opening game. "Pakistan are a quality side and they have some talented white-ball players in their line-up. We have the desired fire-power in our ranks to win this series and I am sure our batters and bowlers will rise to the occasion and make this historic series memorable for us."
Spin played a major role during their low-scoring series in Bangladesh. Latham expected a bit more assistance for seam-bowling in Pakistan and believed that he had good enough fast bowlers at his disposal.
“Yeah, obviously in Bangladesh, the surfaces dictated the sort of variations that the bowlers needed to bowl whereas potentially here, we're a little bit unsure - we haven't played in these conditions before," he said. "For us, it's about trying to adapt to the conditions and try to think on our feet a little bit and obviously, we have some good fast bowlers in our group and they probably enjoyed seeing the ball go through a little bit more than what it did in Bangladesh. I'm sure they will be excited to get into the game tomorrow like we all will be."
New Zealand will miss the services of wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Blundell, who has been sidelined with quad-strain. With Blundell out, Latham will now have an added responsibility of wicketkeeping, apart from leading the side and scoring runs in the middle-order. Sharing his views about juggling the roles, Latham remarked that each facet has its difficulties and looked forward to executing his role in the best manner possible.
"I have my role in the middle order and it's about trying to execute that role as best as possible," he said. "The role that I'm in is a slightly different one where you could be in a lot of different situations, so just trying to adapt to that as best as possible and work with the partner and work with the group - whether it's putting a score on the board or chasing a score down. I certainly don't see it (captaincy) as added pressure, so it's just about trying to execute my role as best as possible."