The prospect of veteran left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori's returning to Test cricket in the third and final match against Pakistan in Sharjah has excited New Zealand cricket team captain Brendon McCullum.
The 35-year-old spinner was surprisingly added to the Test squad to bolster New Zealand's chances of levelling the series they trail 1-0 after losing the first Test and drawing the second.
Vettori played last of his 112 Tests, 111 for New Zealand and one for ICC World XI, in July 2012 and had all but ended his Test career due to persistent injury problems, Sports24 reported.
McCullum said that it would be an achievement for Vettori to become the most-capped New Zealand player. He said that they are really excited about his return, adding that the all rounder is the most capped player with Stephen Fleming and it is a tremendous achievement over which all are proud off.
Vettori would overtake Fleming who also played 111 Tests for New Zealand.
McCullum said that Vettori would also be part of the one-day series, which follows the Test. He said that it is a one-off Test situation for the all rounder as he was over there preparing for the one-dayers.
The skipper said that they believe using three spinners and Dane being the third one, the workload might not be overly excessive. He added that with the World Cup around they don't want to break Vettori in a one-off Test match situation and they think they can certainly manage.
Vettor would replace out of form all-rounder Jimmy Neesham from the second Test XI with the other two spinners, Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig, retained.
This will be the sixth time New Zealand enters a Test with three spinners in the last 30 years, losing five of those Tests and drawing one, the report added.
