RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — The 2009 champion Pakistan is aiming to tick all the right boxes in its preparation phase ahead of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup as it gears up for the five-match series under comeback captain Babar Azam against an understrength New Zealand.

Rawalpindi will host the first three games from Thursday. The remaining two games will be staged at Lahore on April 25 and 27 as both squads build up to the world tournament being staged in the United States and Caribbean in June.

Babar returns as white-ball captain and will lead the squad for the third successive T20 World Cup. He replaces Shaheen Shah Afridi, who lost to the Black Caps 4-1 earlier this year in his maiden series as Pakistan’s T20 skipper.

Babar led Pakistan to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup in 2021 in the United Arab Emirates, where it lost to eventual champion Australia, and also skippered the side beaten by England at Melbourne in the 2022 edition.