By RICHARD BOOCK
Moin Khan believes the return of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has given Pakistan the perfectly balanced one-day combination.
The Pakistan skipper had so many world-class bowling options available yesterday that he had to drop legspinner Mushtaq Ahmed, who can boast 161 ODI wickets, from the side who eventually beat New Zealand by six wickets.
From the squad of 16, Pakistan opted to leave out bowlers Mohammad Sami and Mushtaq as well as the highly rated allrounder Azhar Mahmood, and still had far too much firepower for the home side's struggling batting line-up.
"It is the perfect combination for Pakistan," Moin said after the win. "It certainly is the best ODI side we've got.
"I mean, Mushy is a very good bowler but it just depends on the surfaces on which we play."
The Eden Park pitch was understandably sporting yesterday after the heavy rain which washed out Saturday's play, and Pakistan were able to put New Zealand under immediate pressure when they won the toss and elected to field.
"It was a good opportunity for our bowlers to get early wickets, which they did," Moin said.
"We were planning to get New Zealand out for less than 200, because it was ideal for the bowlers.
"The pitch was a bit moist and they [Pakistan's bowlers] took full advantage of the opportunity."
Moin said he had emphasised to Akhtar the need to ease himself into the match after being out of cricket for the past 10 months, and was delighted with how his tearaway quickie responded.
"He was pretty quick, but he was bowling within himself," he said.
"I told him to just take it easy. He'd been out of the game for a long time and it was best for him to take his time over his comeback."
Akhtar, for his part, said he was so nervous beforehand he had to persuade himself to take the field.
The 25-year-old's last game of international cricket had been on April 23 last year, and the 10-month layoff had left him jumping out of his skin with anxiety.
"I sort of didn't want to go out there," he said. "I was a bit scared.
"But my team-mates reassured me and told me to take things easy - to just chill out - and it all turned out well in the end."
He said he was nowhere near full pace yesterday, despite getting the ball through at about 147 km/h at times.
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming was disappointed his side could not apply any pressure to the opposition, particularly in terms of the batting.
"We get to the advantage line; we fight for a while, we just don't push on.
"We keep letting ourselves down at key times," he said.
Fleming said questions now hovered over his batsmen's match awareness, which did not seem to be up to speed.
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