Absence of vital bowlers will not keep Vettori down

Dubai: New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori keeps his cool despite facing the toughest of situations. On the eve of the two Twenty20 matches, he has lost his two key bowlers to injuries again.

Kyle Mills and James Franklin will be out of action. "We're down to a skeleton squad, as usual, and we have just 12 players to pick from. We'll make a decision, probably between BJ Watling and Neil Broom for the eleventh spot," remarked Vettori.

New Zealand had arrived here without their key players Jesse Ryder, Daryl Tuffey and Grant Elliott who are injured.

"Kyle [Mills] is out with a shoulder injury and James Franklin has a back injury. This has ruled both of them out of the tour. Jacob Oram is returning to New Zealand for the birth of his first child," added Vettori.

Incidentally, Vettori too is suffering from a shoulder injury. While not denying he had an issue, he played down its significance. "I haven't been 100 per cent fit for a long time. It's just one of those things where you manage injuries. I'm doing that at the moment and hopefully I can hold on for a while yet."

No easy answer

When asked why it is that New Zealand is the most injury-prone team in the world today, Vettori said: "It is a very difficult question to answer. I don't have any answer for that because our conditioning has improved exceptionally well over the years. We are a fitter and stronger team but unfortunately we keep coming up with these injuries.

"A lot of teams in world cricket at the moment face work overloads. We had asked for three weeks break after Champions Trophy so we could start fresh but it did not happen."

So what will his action plan against Twenty20 champions Pakistan be? Vettori said: "We're certainly up against a quality side, the world champions, but just like the one-day games we know the plans and the plans work when we put them into place."