Perth: Pakistan have arrived in Napier, New Zealand, ahead of their match with the UAE on Wednesday with the hope of building on their vital victory against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq has discussed with his teammates how to keep winning and make sure they secure a slot in the quarter-finals — even though they were well beaten by both India and the West Indies.
Though Pakistan’s twin defeats shattered their plans, Misbah is hopeful his players will rise to the challenge against the UAE, South Africa and Ireland in their remaining Pool B games.
Misbah’s first step is to ensure his bowlers keep taking wickets to pile the pressure on their opponents.
“Credit should be given to the bowlers [against Zimbabwe] and the way we just defended the total out there. They just kept the pressure up, kept taking wickets.”
Misbah also says his top order must somehow get some runs. “The top order is always the key and if we want to go further in this World Cup, we have to improve our top order batting,” he said.
The skipper made it very clear that big totals are a must in the coming matches. Batting first and scoring only around 230, he said, would lead to defeats against strong teams like South Africa.
Misbah’s third point is wanting his all-rounders to click like Wahab Riaz did against Zimbabwe, when he took four wickets and hit a half century.
Fourthly, he wants his bowlers to bowl according to the strengths of the opponent.
Citing Mohammad Irfan, who bowled brilliantly against Zimbabwe to take four wickets, as an example, he said: “Zimbabweans were struggling against his short bowling and length bowling, so that was the plan and that’s what he did. Maybe against different teams he should bowl different lengths.”
UAE coach Aaqib Javed, a 1992 World Cup winner with Pakistan, cautioned them not to drop a bowler with the aim of strengthening the batting.
“I believe the team should have five genuine bowlers who can take wickets. Never should they add another batsman thinking their bowling is weak,” Javed said.
Another former Pakistan star, Mudassar Nazar, who is the UAE bowling coach, said that bashing of their team by former players should stop.
“In ODIs, when your No. 1 off-spinner [Saeed Ajmal] is banned ahead of the World Cup, your senior-most batsman and off-spinner [Mohammed Hafeez] is also not there and best left-arm pacer [Junaid Khan] is also out, it is bound to affect you.”
