World Cup victory will revive cricket in Pakistan: Shoaib Akhtar
Pakistani pace sensation, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Akhtar-c90080, has said that a victory in this year’s World Cup will help revive international cricket in terrorism-hit Pakistan. The World Cup begins in three days. The mega event will be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh.
While talking to the press in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747, the Rawalpindi Express reiterated his team’s resolve to do its best in the World Cup. He admitted that the team was hurt because of the spot-fixing fiasco that tarnished the image of Pakistan in the world of cricket.
“We are a very hurt side but very dangerous,” he said, adding that the team would take inspiration from whatever it has faced in the past six to seven months. Akhtar said his team was looking forward to playing the quarterfinals in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758.
He said, “We need to win at any cost, the team needs a situation, and what better situation than the World Cup. We need to win this World Cup to bring back cricket to Pakistan; the charm back to the country. People at home are missing cricket. They are dying
to watch players from all over the world playing against Pakistan."
Earlier this month, three Pakistani players – Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif – were banned from international cricket for their involvement in spot-fixing in August 2010 during Pakistan’s tour to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749. The players were banned after a hearing
conducted by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption tribunal in Doha, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Qatar-c2986.
Due to the unavailability of the two of the team’s most potent attack bowlers, Asif and Aamer, many believe the pace attack of the Men in Green has been depleted and since pace bowling has always been Pakistan’s strength, the general perception is that they
don’t have a chance in this year’s World Cup.
Pakistan also lost its World Cup hosting rights because of a terrorist ambush in 2009 on the touring Sri Lankan team. Since that episode, Pakistan has been a no-go area for international teams, which has practically ended all international cricketing events
in the cricket-crazy country.
36-year-old Shoaib Akhtar warned the world not to take his team lightly. He argued that Pakistan just came back from a tremendously successful tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 where they beat the hosts in the two-match Test series by 1-0 and the ODI series by 3-2. This
is http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s first series victory in almost 14 years.
Akhtar stressed that even at his age, he was bowling at speeds touching 145-150 kph. This means that he still has the ability to rattle the opposition with pure pace. According to Akhtar, the conditions in the subcontinent are going to be tough for pace
bowlers and they would have to work extra hard to mark a dent in the opposing batting line-up.
The subcontinent pitches are best suited for spin bowlers and the team that takes advantage of the turning wickets is mostly likely to be successful in cricket’s biggest event of the year.
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