Pakistan eye ‘comprehensive’ win

Team to face Ireland in opening ODI today.

KARACHI:

Pakistan have beaten Ireland in their previous two meetings but memories of the infamous defeat at the hands of the Associate Members in the 2007 World Cup still haunts most fans.

However, with Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal the only survivors from the team that suffered a humiliating defeat in the West Indies, Pakistan are likely to go undeterred against the hosts when they meet them in the first One-Day International (ODI) in Dublin today. The UK tour, meant to prepare the players ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy, featured two ODIs against Scotland – Pakistan won the first by 96 runs before the second was abandoned – and will see the team contest two against Ireland.

With little at stake, followers are afraid of complacency creeping in against Ireland, who have nothing to lose.



A team official, however, was quick to dismiss the notion.

“The team is eyeing comprehensive wins,” a team official told The Express Tribune from Dublin. “The defeat in 2007 was a bad day for Pakistan cricket. We will go with a relaxed frame of mind and eye wins before the Champions Trophy.”

However, the official agreed that the team was likely to face stiff competition from Ireland.

“We will play to our full potential. Ireland have stunned major teams with their performance in the past and we are wary of their threat in home conditions.”

Better batting show expected from visitors

Pakistan arrived in Dublin on May 20 and held two practice sessions for three hours each as the official termed the conditions and weather better than that of Scotland.

While the top-order failed to impress against Scotland – barring Misbahul Haq who steered the team to safety – the official said there was no need to press the panic button.

“It was expected to be a low-scoring game because of the pitch conditions there. However, things are better here and we can expect some more runs from our batsmen.”

Opportunity for us to shine: O’Brien

Meanwhile, Ireland all-rounder Kevin O’Brien has termed the two ODI games as an opportunity for the team to show off its skills against a major team.

“It’ll be a great chance for the team to show what we can do again,” O’Brien told Pakpassion.net. “It has been a while since we’ve played a Full Member team.”

O’Brien also awaited a battle against Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal. “We played against him two years ago and we know he’s a tricky bowler. There are no specific plans for him. We’ll just go out and enjoy facing a great spinner. We’ll have to give him the respect he deserves and try to score off as many balls as we can.”

Squads

Ireland: W Porterfield, A Cusack, G Dockrell, T Johnston, E Joyce, J Mooney, T Murtagh, K O’Brien, N O’Brien, J Shannon, M Sorensen, P Stirling, A White, G Wilson

Pakistan: Misbah, A Rehman, A Ali, A Shafiq, E Adil, I Farhat, J Khan, K Akmal, M Hafeez, M Irfan, N Jamshed, S Ajmal, S Malik, U Amin, W Riaz

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2013.