WELLINGTON: New Zealand head coach Gary Stead played down suggestions of any tension around their Twenty20 World Cup opening fixture against Pakistan after the Black Caps recently abandoned their limited-overs tour of the south Asian country citing a security alert.

New Zealand’s withdrawal dealt a massive blow to Pakistan’s hopes of staging regular international cricket, with England subsequently calling off their men’s and women’s tours.

New Zealand face former champions Pakistan in their opening Group 2 match on Oct 26 in Sharjah and Stead said his side was focused only on that.

“I’m not sure if there’s any more tension on it from our perspective,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “Obviously, what happened in Pakistan was sad for Pakistan cricket, their players and also our players, who missed out on that opportunity as well.

“We can’t change what has happened there. All we can do is prepare for the tournament and we face Pakistan first up.”

New Zealand are bidding to win a second world title this year after claiming the inaugural World Test Championship in June by beating India in the final.

Stead said they would not set too many goals.

“I guess our first one is focusing on one game at a time, but the main goal is to get to that semi-finals stage and if you’re there, you’ll know that you’re only two wins away from a title,” Stead added. “We’re in a tough pool, I genuinely think there are six to seven teams that could win this tournament and I guess that’s good for world cricket as well.”

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2021