The joy on the faces after Umar Gul’s lethal hitting against South Africa has paved way for worry.
Pakistan will need to beat Australia today in order to have a good chance of qualifying for the semi-finals. A loss will mean that they need to wait for the result of the match between India and South Africa to learn their fate.
Pakistan did beat Australia in the three-match Twenty20 series that took place in the UAE but given the team’s – and all-rounder Shane Watson’s – form in the World Twenty20, the former champions will need more than merry memories of the past to sneak a win.
“We had some reasonable performances against Australia just recently,” said Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore. “But they have played very well in the last three weeks or so, in their warm-up games and in this tournament so far. We are used to playing them and we have done okay against them recently. It will be a good test, they are a good side.”
Bailey not keen on revenge
Meanwhile, Australia are aware that they do not even need to win in order to progress, as they will qualify for the semi-finals, unless Pakistan can impose the sort of thrashing George Bailey’s men have normally dealt out.
“I am not too fussed about settling scores,” said Bailey. “What we are keen to do is continue playing good cricket. There’s no doubt that in this format, momentum and confidence are really big factors.
“We were really confident going into the game against South Africa just on the back of how well we were playing, so it will be nice to play well against Pakistan just to keep that going.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (7)
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One change should be made in Final's Remove Nazir in replace of Asad Shafiq. Opener should be Nasir & Hafeez one down Kamran Akmal Next Asad Shafiq. Imran Nazir on both last matches got out in a very stupid manner. Which is not acceptable. We require professional Openers same goes to Hafeez Play your game man score 50 or 100 play a captain knock.
@Gaurav: We beat them a series by 2-1 recently .....
if do not reach semifinals billions of dollars of multinationals and national Indi companies will lost, TV channells lose billions, ICC lose billions. The result will be one which is "profitable". Its always economics stupid...
Hafeez and Co. STOP pleading for divine help and START playing like professionals. It is not the luck or history but merit-based team selection, professional attitude, determination and performance on the day.
Please Australia give a chance to Pakistan
It is no easy for Pakistan to win against Australia, Insha allah, Masah allah, can not win matches, need to do hard work,
The difference between the 2 teams is the level of professionalism and commitment. We are not only riding on history today but also on the faded glory and rusty reputations of a couple of players who have failed consistently in the past and do not deserve a place in the team