Pakistan team manager Intikhab Alam hopes a successful tour of New Zealand will put the squad in the perfect position to mount a serious World Cup challenge. "Although the pitches in New Zealand and the sub-continent, where we play the World Cup, are different, a six-match one-day series at the end of the tour will help us build a combination and overcome our shortcomings," Alam told a foreign news agency. Pakistan, who departed Saturday, open the tour with the first of three Twenty20 internationals on December 26 before playing two Tests and six one-dayers - their last commitment before the February 19-April 2 World Cup.