Pakistan Coach Waqar Younis focused on Australia rather than the quarter-final – ICC World Cup 2011
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 qualified for the quarter-final of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2011 after 12 years. However, former Pakistan fast bowler and current coach Waqar Younis, is not preparing for the quarter-final right now because he is concentrating
on the match against four-time champions, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, which will be their last group match.
The Men-in-Green had qualified for the quarter-finals back in 1999 in England and made it all the way to the finals but unfortunately lost against Australia. This time around, Pakistan jumped to second place in group A after thrashing
the minnows http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 by a convincing margin of seven wickets at Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
With a number of group matches still scheduled to take place, it is not yet clear who Pakistan will play in their quarter-final. This will only be decided after the match against Australia.
The former Pakistan Captain said that he was not thinking about the quarter-final right now. He said that his squad is planning to play against Australia and were completely focused on that. He added that if they win against the Aussies
then their moral will be so high that they will not need to worry about whom they play in their quarter-final.
Australia have not been defeated in the World Cup since 1999. Their last defeat was against Pakistan in 1999 at Headingley. They are also the only unbeaten team in the ongoing coveted mega event.
Waqar said that winning the group match against Australia will give them the option that they could play the number four team of group B who will be low in confidence and their moral will also be on the lower side.
Australia are a superb team and have not been defeated for more than a decade in the World Cups. So on Saturday they will have a golden opportunity to break the Aussies’ winning streak and to gain the confidence required for the quarter-final
to play against any team.
Pakistan is planning to attack with the spinners against the Kangroos as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 and Abdur Rehman in their playing eleven
and they also have a master of “Doosra” Saeed Ajmal who can be lethal against Australia.
"The strategy will be very similar," Waqar said. "Try to play 50 overs first, pile up a big total, that's the key. And then, when you look at bowling sides around the world, I think we have a fairly good bowling side. If we can put
a handsome total, we stand a good chance of winning that match. Or if we bowl them out cheaply, we have a good chance of chasing it."
"We're thinking of building an opening partnership, that is the first point," Waqar said. "It was a rash shot from Shehzad. It wasn't really required at the time. But don't forget he is a youngster. He is only 21 and brand new in this
arena. It's not easy sometimes. In the heat of the moment you play silly shots and that's how you learn cricket. He's probably learnt a big lesson today that when the team needs you at the wicket, you should stay."
The management was not so supportive of young gun Umar Akmal’s attitude because he has been the subject of rumours about faking a finger injury to support his brother Kamran Akmal. Umar might be out of the playing eleven against Australia.
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