LONDON: The ghosts of Pakistan’s shock first-round elimination from the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean must have been haunting the national players yesterday as they prepared to take on the Netherlands in a do-or-die game of the ICC World Tweny20 Championship here at Lord’s today.
Two years back facing a similar situation, Pakistan flopped miserably against minnows Ireland in a must-win match in Kingston and were thrown out of the quadrennial spectacle.
At Lord’s today, Pakistan will have to beat the courageous Dutch by a sizeable margin to push their way into the next round of the tournament. On current form, it seems unlikely that the Pakistanis will be able to outclass the much-improved Dutch who registered a stunning four-wicket upset over England with clinical precision in the tournament opener at Lord’s last Friday to make it crystal clear that they are no push-overs.
In stark contrast, Pakistan are yet to show any signs of character on this tour so far. They were sloppy in the two warm-up games against South Africa and India in the warm-up matches last week and were unable to lift their game against England on Sunday.
They are on the verge of a disappointing exit from the tournament, but the mood in the Pakistani camp remains upbeat.
“There is no use getting bogged down by what happened in the previous game,” said team coach Intikhab Alam. “The tournament is not over for us yet and I’m sure our boys have the heart to bounce back tomorrow,” he added.
Pakistan have to beat the Dutch by at least 25 runs over with three overs to spare to surpass them in terms of run-rate and qualify for the Super Eights.
Captain Younis Khan said that the team’s senior players will have to come forward and help Pakistan achieve the tough task. “It won’t be easy but we will have to do it somehow and for that the senior players like Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq and myself will have to come forward.”
The Pakistan team management yesterday was mulling several options for the crunch game against the Dutch. There is a big possibility that Pakistan will reshuffle their batting order and Younis might opt to open the innings. The skipper indicated that opener Salman Butt could be dropped though he scored 28 against England because of his poor fielding.
Promising all-rounder Fawad Alam may finally get his first outing of the tour as he is regarded as one of the team’s best fielders. A gutsy batsman, who can contribute as a left-arm spinner, Fawad can add variety to the Pakistan team that is yet to display the sort of performance that helped it reach the final of the inaugural World twenty in South Africa two years.
The Dutch, meanwhile, were plotting Pakistan’s downfall in a bid to earn a surprise Super Eights spot from Group C. With England already in, the Dutch just need to avoid a big defeat against Pakistan to progress into the second round.
Jeroen Smits, the Dutch captain, said yesterday that his boys were all set for the big game against adding that they will go all out to win it and top Group B. With in-form players like left-arm fast bowler Dirk Nannes and big-hitting all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate in his side, Smits declared that the Netherlands are capable of producing yet another upset in the event after shocking the hosts on the opening day of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Pakistan chief selector Abdul Qadir, reportedly angry over player selections, resigned yesterday, a day after Pakistan lost their opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.
“I have resigned from my post in the best interests of Pakistan cricket,” Qadir said, adding it had nothing to do with Sunday’s defeat to tournament hosts England.
“I played my cricket with respect and wanted the same as selector but things were not like that,” said Qadir, who was reportedly angry with the selections for the World Twenty20 and the Pakistan “A” team for a tour of Australia.
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman confirmed the former leg-spinner had resigned.
“Qadir has tendered his resignation to the chairman of the PCB, who has accepted it,” PCB spokesman Raza Rashid said.
