Sports Desk
Queenstown: Members of the Pakistan squad took part in the first practice and training session after 14 days of isolation on the tour of New Zealand.
The squad was allowed to train after serving their time in a managed isolation and quarantine. They practiced for three hours in Queenstown today.
The national team and Shaheens’ squad trained respectively. Shaheens practiced under the supervision of junior head coach Ijaz Ahmed while the national team did light training under head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and batting coach Younis Khan. Meanwhile, middle-order batsman Haris Sohail and leg-spinner Usman Qadir expressed their views on the sidelines of the training session.
Haris said that they have missing training for the last 14 days and the boys enjoyed their first practice session. “Everyone looked excited about the first net session today and after a gap of two weeks, we did light training. Our aim is to adapt the conditions slowly.”
The 27-year-old Usman Qadir in awe of Queenstown’s ground and its outfield and is confident that the team will get rhythm ahead of the T20I series. “It was hard to spend the quarantine period but we are pleased that time has passed,” said Usman. “We can burden ourselves with excessive training but we are positive of getting used to the conditions before the first T20I,” he added.
Note, Pakistan Shaheens are scheduled to play a one-off four-day match against New Zealand ‘A’ from December 17 while the national team will play their first T20I against BlackCaps on December 18 in Auckland.
