Shaheen Afridi removes opener as NZ opt to bat in 1st ODI

ABU DHABI (92 News) – New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat against Pakistan in the first one-day international at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Pakistani bowler Shaheen Afridi removed the openers of NZ GH Worker only on 1 runs at 9 balls and C Munro 29 runs at 27 balls. However, Shadab Khan took the third wicket of KS Williamson at 27 runs on 38 balls. Pakistan crushed New Zealand 3-0 in the preceding Twenty20 series on Sunday – their second whitewash in a week following a romp over Australia, also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. But Sarfraz, part of the team in the last 11 one-day internationals all of which Pakistan lost, wants to finally win against New Zealand. “It´s important to break that losing streak and we need to bring improvement in our performance in one-day internationals," said Sarfraz on Tuesday. Pakistan lost the last two matches in a 3-2 series defeat in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2014, before losing 2-0 in 2015, 2-0 in 2016 and 5-0 in January 2018 -- all in New Zealand. “If you look at our losses most of them were in New Zealand where conditions were different and we lost due to top order failure where we need to improve," said Sarfraz. The last two matches are in Abu Dhabi (Friday) and in Dubai (Sunday). Team squad: Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Junaid Khan New Zealand: George Worker, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult