The Pakistan Cricket Board on Monday announced the match schedule of New Zealand men’s cricket team’s dual tours of Pakistan.
On the first leg of the Pakistan tour, Kane Williamson’s side will play Tests in Karachi (December 27-31) and Multan (January 4-8). They will return to Karachi for the three ICC Super League matches on January 11, 13 and 15.
The Karachi Test will be New Zealand’s first in the metropolitan city since October 1990. It continues to be a memorable year for Multan as well. After hosting three ODIs against the West Indies in May, they will stage the second Test between Pakistan and England (December 9-13), before holding the second Test between Pakistan and New Zealand.
New Zealand will begin the second leg of the Pakistan tour in Karachi with four T20Is (April 13,15,16 and 19), followed by the fifth T20I and two ODIs in Lahore (April 23,26 and 28) and last three ODIs will be played in Rawalpindi (May 1,4 and 7).
Zakir Khan, PCB Director – International Cricket, in an official media release said: “We had promised our passionate fans that we will deliver high-quality home international cricket in 2022. Today’s announcement of New Zealand’s double visit to Pakistan is part of that commitment.”
“New Zealand is one of the high-performing sides and the more we will play against the top teams in our backyard, the better we will get as a unit, which is crucial to our objective of featuring inside the top-three across all formats. The New Zealand matches will also provide opportunities to our youngsters to continue to watch and follow their favourite players in action, something they have missed when we were forced to play our international cricket offshore,” he added.
The first leg of the tour for two Tests and three ODIs is part of the Future Tours Programme, while the 10 white-ball matches in April/May are to make-up for the abandoned September 2021 tour.
New Zealand are presently eighth on the ICC World Test Championship, while Pakistan is sitting in fifth spot. In the ICC Super League, a qualifying tournament for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, Pakistan and New Zealand are fourth and sixth, respectively.
