New Zealand cricket team coach Gary Stead has suggested his players to not give any heed to the hype around the Twenty20 World Cup opener against Pakistan. The fixture carries more significance since the Kiwis abruptly abandoned their Pakistan tour earlier this month.
On September 17, the Kiwis had made an absurd decision to unilaterally withdraw from the much-anticipated tour of Pakistan minutes before the first ODI, citing a ‘security threat’. More raving was the fact that New Zealand management denied giving the exact reasons for the abandonment.
Their decision was followed by a similar one taken by England, denting the Pakistan Cricket Board’s all efforts to end the long hiatus of top-level international cricket in Pakistan. With New Zealand and Pakistan set to meet in the UAE next month as part of the World T20, New Zealand’s coach has told his players to block out the noise surrounding the tie.
The coach said, “Certainly, being that it’s Pakistan, people will hype that up, but for us, it’s no different to any other match we play against them.”
The Kiwi team will begin their WorldT20 campaign against Pakistan on Oct 26 at Sharjah — a couple of days after Pakistan’s hotly-anticipated opener against its arch-rival India on Oct 24 at Dubai.
Stead admitted that the decision to abandon the tour was “disappointing” and “unsettling” for the Pakistan cricket fraternity and fans but explained that it was not the team’s decision to make.
Stead said, “Sometimes you don’t get made aware of everything, either. It’s really hard for me to comment on.”
The coach insisted that the management was helpless in the decision adding, “the guys are now in Dubai and getting ready, and there’s the IPL that they can have a good look at, which in many ways is good preparation for them as well.”
He said that the five players who were meant to be starting a five-match T20 series in Pakistan were in good spirits and had begun training in the UAE.
