Mirpur: Though dejected by the defeat to India, Pakistan is hoping to stage a strong comeback by trapping the Australians through their spinners on Sunday at the Sher-E-Bangla National Stadium.
Pakistan coach Moin Khan want to capitalise on Australia’s weakness against genuine spinners. “They can be weak against spin though they have been playing very good cricket for a long time. I still believe in my players. We’re capable of getting them.”
When asked whether he would play an extra spinner, Khan said: “We have a lot of options in the team. Unfortunately we couldn’t bowl Shoaib Malek (against India) because we had other options. We have also another spinner (Zulfiqar Babar) with us. It depends on the pitch, what type of wicket we get in the next match. Our composition will be based on it.”
Australia skipper George Bailey played down the threat from Pakistan spinners saying: “I think we have seen most of them now over a period of years or most guys have seen them at different times. It’s challenging. I guess you just talk about it as much as you can, reflect on those experiences of the past and you are forever trying to get better. Certainly they have got three spinners in the top 10 in T20 cricket, they are a very, very strong spinning side and the conditions can be challenging for us over here, but I think we have certainly got a strong batting line-up at the moment and that, hopefully, can overcome them.”
Bailey believes that spin does play a huge role in Twenty20 today and hence his team is ready to play anyone. “I think spin plays a huge role in T20, wherever it’s played in the world. It tends to go one of the two ways but certainly in these conditions it tends to be match-winning. We know we are going to face lots of spin, we know we are probably going to bowl a lot of spin. Your approach is to play as well as you can,” he said.
Khan does not believe that the defeat to India will have a huge impact. “We are one match down but I still believe in the abilities of my team. We have to come back very hard and play aggressive cricket. We will make every effort to win. Whenever a team loses its first match, its chances come down. We’ll have to work hard to come back. This match is very important to us if we have to stay in the tournament. But looking at this format, I don’t think any team will reach the final without losing a single game. It’s a hard format. For any team to put in three consistent performances is a hard task,” Khan said.
Bailey on the other hand wants a winning start. “It’s nice to start with a win. In a tournament like this, momentum is really important. Starting with a win gets you off and running. I don’t think you can drop that many games. I think you can only lose one or two to not get through. The more wins the better.”
