Pakistan's Younis Khan (left), Misbah-ul Haq and coach Waqar Younis practice ahead of fifth and final one-dayer against New Zealand
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis felt that a win in the fifth and final one-dayer against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on Friday would give his team a boost ahead of next year's ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 after New Zealand leveled the five-match series 2-2 with a narrow seven-run win in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, setting up an intriguing finale to the tour after the preceding three-match Test and two-match Twenty20 series, had both ended 1-1.
Waqar said the series would give Pakistan an idea on where they stand ahead of the quadrennial event in February-March 2015. "We need to win the final one-day," said Waqar on Thursday. "This series is for us to utilize and get a clearer picture on the final 15 (players for the World Cup)."
Waqar blamed poor fielding for Pakistan's defeat. "Honestly, we lost the match because of the fielding. We gave away some 20-25 runs in the field and that is a worrying sign for me," said Waqar.
The former pacer, however, had words of praise for veteran batsman Younis Khan, who scored his first one-day century in six years. "Younis' form is very important, he has shown us his true potential. Both he and Afridi demonstrated excellent fighting spirit."
"I am happy at the fight, the expectations we had with our batting were fulfilled and we maintained a nine plus average, unfortunately we couldn't finish that but the fight pleased me," summed up Waqar.
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