New Zealand are an organised side: Raja

CHANDIGARH, May 6: ``New Zealand are a very organised side and we will not be taking them lightly,'' Pakistan skipper Rameez Raja told medi...

CHANDIGARH, May 6: “New Zealand are a very organised side and we will not be taking them lightly,” Pakistan skipper Rameez Raja told mediapersons today at the PCA Stadium this evening.

“Whereas the Indians and even the Pakistanis tend to panic and choke in crunch situations, the Kiwis are meticulous and professional and don’t give anything away,” he observed.

The Kiwis and the Pakistanis looked fit and did some swift sprints and stretching exercises prior to going into the nets. Aaqib Javed, back in the Pakistani side, was as nippy as ever as he charged in to bowl to Saeed Anwar. The opener, too, is back after a mysterious virus kept him out of action. “He is fully fit now and will be opening our batting” said Raja. “Although the vacuum in the bowling attack caused by the absence of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed is too great to be filled straightaway, I am confident that the youngsters Azher Mahmoud, Abdul Razaq and Mohammed Hussain will do well,” he added.

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Saqlain Mushtaq looked at his crafty best as he beat Anwar repeatedly with at the nets. Salim Malik preferred to do yoga behind the nets and Moin Khan was busy taking acrobatic catches which were whizzing at him from Shahid Afridi’s blade.

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said, “Pakistan is the number one team in the tournament and Indians are at number two.”

This statement is strangely at odds with what the Kiwi coach Steve Rixon had to say only a few days earlier when he averred that the Kiwis would make it to the finals of the Independence Cup. The New Zealand skipper also made no mention of the World Cup champions Sri Lanka.

The New Zealand team has quite a few new faces. Andrew Penn, Shayne O’Connor, Craig McMillan and Matt Horne. Although only 18, Daniel Vettori cannot be called new, as he has already made waves with his excellent left-arm spin bowling in the home Tests against the Lankans.

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The New Zealand team will be playing a practice match with the Chandigarh Administrator’s Adviser XI tomorrow at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium.` `We have not had much cricket since the end of March and obviously a match is definitely better than net practice,” was how Fleming looked at it. Raja said,“ we are not short of cricket that is why we will have net practice.” The two teams landed at the Chandigarh Civil Airport around 2 p.m., two hours behind schedule.

It was because the Alliance Air aircraft carrying the two teams had to return back to Delhi soon after take off having developed a “technical snag”. An Indian Airlines aircraft had to be arranged at Delhi to replace the earlier plane.