The Black Caps’ coach, Gary Stead, said that he was “proud” of his team’s showing against the hosts the day after they tied the five-match T20I series against New Zealand with a nine-run win. Pakistan triumphed over New Zealand in the fifth to win the series 2ND time.
Pakistan triumphed over New Zealand in the fifth to win the series 2ND time
When Stead talked to reporters in Lahore, he said, “I’m very proud of how our team played.”
His comments came after Pakistan beat New Zealand in the fifth T20I match, their second win in the series. The first match between the two teams was called off because of rain.
Even though the Men in Green beat the Black Caps badly in the second T20I, the Kiwis came back strongly to win the third and fourth games.
Stead was happy with his team’s performance and said, “We had a disappointing first outing and where we were soundly beaten but to bounce back from that I thought was really pleasing and I think there’s a few young guys that have certainly increased their stocks over here.” Stead will name his squad for the World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean in June tomorrow (Monday).
“Let’s not forget Pakistan only two years ago were world cup finalists and […] for us to compete with them I think was really, really pleasing for us,” he said.
The Black Caps coach told all of the players that they needed to keep working hard, even if they weren’t picked for the World Cup team on Monday, because replacements would be needed at some point.
“We’ve obviously got a number of guys in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that will either join us when they get knocked out of the IPL or join us immediately after that when we travel to the West Indies,” he stated.
“That means the guys will still have to work hard. “There will be some fringe players who don’t make the team who will want to keep training in case they get hurt,” he said.
