Pakistan arrived in Sri Lanka with their confidence sky high following victory against Australia in their three-match T-20 series in UAE. Pakistan have an exceptional record in World T-20s having reached at least the semi-finals on all three occasions of the competition. They were losing finalists in 2007 while they were losing semi-finalists in 2010. In 2009, they won the tournament beating Sri Lanka in the final at Lord’s.
"We have done well in the last three World T-20s which were in fact held in three different parts of the world. We have a good success rate in this format of the game. We want to ensure that we aren’t complacent, but work hard. We have an experienced outfit and we are looking forward for the event," Pakistan T-20 captain Mohammad Hafeez told journalists at Taj Samudra yesterday after the team’s arrival in Colombo.
Pakistan are pooled in Group ‘D’ alongside New Zealand and Bangladesh and will play their first round games at Pallekele where conditions will help their fast bowling unit.
"At Pallekele, bowlers do well. We have Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami. Someone like Tanvir is very good as he has an unusual action. I feel we have a good side and a good attack. At Pallekele, the seamers will benefit and we should do well. We are confident."
"We had a good time in UAE winning the series against Australia. The morale of the team is high although we lost the last game. The effort put in by the boys was really great."
Former batting great Javed Miandad also joins the squad as the team’s batting consultant and Hafeez was confident that his presence will bolster the side even further. "Javed is one of the legends produced by Pakistan cricket. He will share with us some valuable inputs and it’s a good thing. Whatever he tells us, we look forward to it. His experience will give us a good boost in this tournament."
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