NZ win toss, put Pak into bat in 1st T20

DUBAI: New Zealand won the toss and put Pakistan into bat after their regular captain Daniel Vettori was ruled out with a shoulder problem in the first Twenty20 international here at the Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Brendon McCullum took over as captain. The Black Caps also had to sit Kyle Mills (shoulder) and James Frankin (back) out of the first match, while all-rounder Jacob Oram left for home to attend his child''s birth.

The second Twenty20 match here will be played Friday.

Pakistan included opener Imran Nazir, and all-rounders Sohail Tanvir and Fawad Alam in the squad after losing the preceding three-match one-day series 2-1 earlier this week.

Teams: Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (captain), Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umer Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamir, Saeed Ajmal, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (captain), Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Martin Guptill, Nathan McCullum, Aaron Redmond, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling

Umpires: Nadeem Ghouri (PAK), Zameer Haider (PAK), Tv umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM).