Pakistan T-20 cricket captain, Mohammad Hafeez has said the team management will decide a combination of openers during the two T20 matches in the tour of India on December 25 and 28.
“I cannot say who will be opening the innings, there are four to five options ahead of the team management which will be deciding a best combination to sustain the pressure of innings opening,” he told reporters here on Thursday after a specialized training session meant for T20 training at the Gadaffi stadium.
He said it is the responsibility of the team management to come up with a match winning combination keeping in view the might of their opponents.
To a question he said opener Ahmed Shahzad who is a contender in the opening pair, has made his place in the T20 squad after displaying good stint of form in the domestic premier event of the shortest version of the game. Hafeez said every match, no matter, it is being played against a weaker or stronger opponent has its own pressure and playing India brings in a lot of pressure but efforts would be made to put an impressive show to defy Indian challenge. “Hard work and higher display of commitment on part of players will be the key to success against India and I am confident that we will giving tough time to India,” he said adding: “one thing is very clear that we have a defined role for every player so that he should give his one hundred percent to enhance teams performance.” Hafeez called upon the bowlers to support ace spinner Saeed Ajmal in bowling to share the responsibility. “There is no doubt that Saeed is a match winning bowler but there are other bowlers as well who should endorse his efforts with an exhibition of quality cricket which will be the need of the hour in T20 games,” he asserted. Pak T2O captain termed Pak-India team balanced and said undermining the strength of India after their test series loss to England is not a fair thought. “Test and T20 games are altogether different formats of the game and their requirements are also different and we will be there to prove that our side is a best combination of talented cricketers”.
To a question, Hafeez said Shoaib Malik has joined T20 preparations after arriving back home from abroad. “He had gone abroad with the permission of team management and his presence will be a good source of inspiration for players because he is an experienced player.”
Answering a question he described former captain and now batting consultant of the team, Inzama ul Haq’s attachment with the team ‘a blessing’ and said his presence during the camp was very beneficial in terms of amending batting flaws of the batsmen. “He is a very experienced batsman and he contributed valuable efforts to improve the batting skills of the players and I Am confident that he is fully capable of further strengthening our battling by imparting his experience to the batsmen”, said Hafeez. He said the practice matches are of greater significance as they are helping the players to get back to the form and to get much needed batting practice ahead of a tough series in India . He urged the players to take India a tough opponent to beat in their own grounds.
