Akram concerned by lack of preparation time

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Former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram is concerned that the current team will not have enough preparation time before the World Cup, which gets underway in Australia and New Zealand on 14 February.

Pakistan played an ODI in New Zealand, and lost, on Saturday and have just one other ODI against New Zealand, on Tuesday in Napier before World Cup warm-up matches against Bangladesh and England on the 11 and 13 February respectively.

Akram is worried that the Pakistan team have not been in Australasia and the games they play in preparation for the tournament might not be enough to get them ready for the tournament.

The former left-arm paceman was quoted as saying by the PTI: "When you look at India and how they are still struggling despite being in Australia for the past two months and having played a lot of matches, it does raises concerns whether Pakistan have enough time to go well prepared into the World Cup.

"It takes time to adjust to the pitches and conditions in both countries and I have toured those nations many times in the past. I just think a few warm-up games and two ODI's against New Zealand is not the proper preparation for such a mega event.

"We should have played a full ODI series in New Zealand and had some more games in Australia before the World Cup."

The legendary bowler was also surprised by how easily the Black Caps overcame Pakistan on Saturday.

He said: "New Zealand team has been in great form off-late and I was expecting them to win, but not expecting them to beat us so comfortably. It became a one-sided clash.  

"One could see today the batsmen are still to adjust to the seam conditions in New Zealand and our bowling is not hitting top gear."

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