LAHORE: The cricket venues at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have so far proved lucky not only for Pakistan, which is playing its home series there, but also for Australia and New Zealand as they achieved some favourable results in one way or the other.
Both Pakistan and New Zealand will again look for their share of luck when the fifth and final match of their ODI series will be played on Friday.
Pakistan had played series against Australia comprising two Tests, three ODIs and a one-off T20 just before their ongoing series against the Kiwis.
The Aussies had whitewashed Pakistan in the three-match ODI series besides inflicting defeat on the green-shirts in the T2O.
The green-shirts had staged a comeback with a bang in the two-match Test series, handing heavy defeats to the Aussies in both the Tests.
Pakistan played their next series against New Zealand, which also showed the same trend, with Pakistan dominating the earlier stage of the three-match Test series winning the first Test while only being able to end the second Test in a draw.
The Kiwis, on the other hand, while emerging stronger in the final Test not only won it but also squared the Test series 1-1.
The same trend continued in the two-match T20 series between the two countries with the hosts winning the first T20 by seven wickets while the Kiwis emerged victorious in the second T20 by 17 runs.
With the green-shirts comprehensively defeating the Kiwis by 147 runs in the third ODI of the ongoing five-match series to take a 2-1 lead, it was expected that Pakistan would triumph against the New Zealanders in the fourth ODI but it was not the case.
The Kiwis showed their true colours once again in the fourth ODI, levelling the series 2-2 and thus keeping their chances in the ODI series alive.
Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2014
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