It was a marvellous win that Pakistan pulled off against the Kiwis in first One-dayer on Monday after being on the ropes for the first half of their innings. Almost everyone watching the game, including myself, had lost hope as Pakistan tottered at 120 odd with six of their main batsmen back in the pavilion including the dashing Sarfraz Ahmed.

But cricket is known to be a game of glorious uncertainties and the adage was proved correct yet again when young Haris Sohail and a rather patient Shahid Afridi took the game away from New Zealand with a handsome partnership that eventually won the game for us.

I must admit here that the manner in which Haris displayed the three key factors in his mature innings - application, concentration and dedication - was a great sight indeed and confirmed the fact that the left-hander has a bright future ahead of him in international cricket.

I particularly admired two aspects of his innings. First was his confidence and sense of responsibility that he showed in time of severe crisis that Pakistan was facing at the time. And second was his brilliant driving against the spin and his execution in the gaps which is a hallmark of a good player. If he continues in the same vain, I strongly recommend that he should be part of Pakistan squad for the World Cup.

Earlier on, Haris also surprised many by bowling his leg-spinners when Pakistan needed someone to fill the void left by the absence of a fifth regular bowler in the side. And he did a fine job there too, conceding just 39 in his 10 overs. Perhaps Misbah-ul-Haq is aiming to groom him as an all-rounder now that the ICC has imposed restrictions on Mohammad Hafeez for bowling in international matches.

Well I wish all the very best to Haris, but at the same time would like to make this point that Hafeez has to part of our World Cup 15 as he is an experienced, reliable batsmen who can make the playing eleven on his batting alone. He did extremely well in the Test matches against New Zealand but is struggling a bit in the limited over games which could be a temporary phase, not dissimilar to what Misbah went through earlier this year.

All players suffer from a lean patch and I am confident that Hafeez will come out of it through his resilience and hardwork.

I would also like to praise the way Afridi shaped up in the first match to guide and partner Haris in a match-wining stand. It was a new-look Afridi who hit only a few boundaries and just a solitary sixer and, fully realising the situation Pakistan was in, stayed on to ensure a fine win for his team.

Having said that, I firmly believe that a team can still learn a lot from a victory or even a drawn game. And Pakistan have some lessons to learn as well from their win. The fact cannot be ignored that New Zealand, despite playing in conditions not really conducive to their type of cricket, have made Pakistan struggle quite a few times in the series. They won the last Test match at Sharjah to show that they are no pushovers and will surely be a handful during the World Cup which they will be hosting along with Australia next year.

In order to counter that, Pakistan need to prepare a sound strategy and organise long practice sessions on greener tracks to beat the Kiwis on their home ground. The Kiwi tearaway fast bowler Adam Milne has sounded a clear warning by bowling well over 150kph on the docile UAE tracks, that he will definitely be a lethal proposition in his home conditions next year.

So it is imperative for Pakistan to take the field with a positive frame of mind in every game from now on and win this ODI series against New Zealand to enter the next year’s World Cup in high spirits and brimming with confidence.

The writer is a former Test cricketer and chief selector

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2014