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The growing injury list and Pakistan's undoubted all-round superiority has forced the Black Caps to reconsider their strategy as cricket comes to the Punjab metropolis for Saturday's third and final One-day International , followed up by the first Test starting Wednesday.

Arriving in the country without experienced quartet of Chris Cairns, Shane Bond, Dion Nash and Daniel Vettori, the New Zealanders have struggled to field their strongest team.

The tourists were without skipper Stephen Fleming, Scott Styris and Chris Nevin in Sunday's 153-run defeat in Karachi and were depleted with the absence of their most successful one-day bowler Chris Harris and proven Nathan Astle in Wednesday's three-wicket defeat in Rawalpindi.

Barring Astle, whose tour has been cut short because of tendon injury in the left knee, the rest are down with food poisoning. To further compound Kiwis cause, Pakistan has been without any injury problems and playing as a close knit unit with everyone chipping in.

Fleming, wary of the situation, has now started banking on his young left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori who will be joining the team for the two Tests.

"We lack the fire power because of the players we are missing. But Daniel Vettori is a big card and he is coming over for Tests. He is the guy who can apply pressure in Test matches," Fleming said.

"Daniel is the trump card and rest of the bowlers can bowl around him. If you have the trump card, you can play the other ones and use a few tricks," he added. But the left-handed batsman was not completely disappointed with his team's performance in the first two One-dayers.

"I am pleased with the commitment of the players in the field. We pushed Pakistan to the end (in the second match) and I think it is a pretty good performance. But I am not completely satisfied with some of the conditions and states off-the-field," he said, referring to the injury problems.

But the visitors can definitely take a big heart from the Rawalpindi match where their batsmen showed determination by occupying the crease and build partnerships. Craig McMillan, Matthew Horne and Andre Adams gave good account.

The New Zealanders, despite ending up on the losing side, also need to be praised for taking a full strength Pakistan down to the wire with limited resources available. And this is the fact that needs to be resolved if one is a Pakistan team supporter. Without belittling their performances this month, probably Australia or any team at its full strength would not have allowed Pakistan to recover from two for six and reach 278 with 17 balls and three wickets to spare.

Pakistan are scheduled to play Australia thrice this year, South Africa and Sri Lanka twice. And if serious thoughts are not put in, the situation might not be as pleasing as it looks at the moment when Pakistan are sitting pretty with one-day series in their pocket.

The openers Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi but have not been consistent and their career averages around 25 each, confirms their unreliability and a lack of technique at the highest level.

With such an unpredictable opening pair, the pressure will most of the time be on the middle-order. Against better teams Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq will not always rise to the occasion and bail the team out of crisis.

"If you are preparing for the World Cup, I think the team management should compare themselves with Australia or South Africa," former captain Aamir Sohail said, adding: "As a team, I believe Pakistan is at par, maybe a bit better than Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand. But still there is gap between the two best teams and Pakistan."

He added: "Pakistan's real potential and mental toughness will be tested when they will lock horns with experienced and teams at full strength. It is good that Pakistan is winning, but I would like to see them learn more from these victories."

There has been no real signs of improvement in Pakistan's fielding. There were wild throws in Rawalpindi and the close-in fielders continued to miss the stumps. Meanwhile, Pakistan are expected to rest Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq and replace them with youngsters Mohammad Sami and Shoaib Malik for the final One-day International against New Zealand tomorrow.

The team management is also contemplating giving Shoaib Akhtar a break. But no firm decision has been taken till late Thursday. If Shoaib sits out, all-rounder Yasir Arafat will be drafted in.

© Dawn