Pakistan vs New Zealand 3rd Test Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium .

New Zealand head to Sharjah for the third Test against Pakistan, buoyed by their performance in Dubai and the added boost of Daniel Vettori's reported comeback. They would like to use the momentum gained to level the three-match series 1-1. Pakistan, on the other hand would like to hope that the drawn Test match was just an aberration after recording four successive Test wins.

 The New Zealand team think-tank would be particularly pleased with Ross Taylor's return to form in the second innings of the Dubai Test. The former captain's century helped New Zealand survive a tricky phase on the fourth day. However, the performances of all-rounders Corey Anderson and James Neesham will come under scrutiny after failures in the first two Tests. The talk from the team is that Daniel Vettori would join Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig in a three-prong spin attack. Should that happen, one of the two all-rounders might be sacrificed.

 Pakistan will hope to see Mohammad Hafeez return to the top of the batting order after an hamstring injury ruled him out of the Dubai Test. However, Pakistan will miss Hafeez's off-spin on the Sharjah surface expected to assist spin. In his absence, Pakistan had to resort to opening with Shan Masood and Taufeeq Umar without much success. The rest of the team that played the second Test should play again.

 Before the last Test match at Sharjah in January 2014, Saeed Ajmal called for more assistance to spinners from the pitch. The pitch, despite being excellent for batting in the first three days, offered turn and bounce on days four and five. Ajmal, Abdur Rehman and Rangana Herath took 15 of the 35 wickets that fell in the Test match. And, if Mike Hesson's(New Zealand coach) statements are anything to go by, the pitch in Sharjah would be the slowest of the three venues used in the Test series.

Teams:

New Zealand (From): Brendon McCullum(c), Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, James Neesham, BJ Watling(w), Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult,Hamish Rutherford, Mark Craig, Luke Ronchi, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner

Pakistan (From): Taufeeq Umar, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed(w), Yasir Shah, Ehsan Adil, Zulfiqar Babar, Rahat Ali, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Mohammad Talha