Pakistan skipper Misbahul Haq has said that no team taking part in the Champions Trophy can be taken lightly and the Team Pakistan is in a good frame of mind.
Talking to journalists in his first press briefing in London ahead of their warm up match against Sri Lanka, Misbah said: “No team can be taken lightly and we have to be take every game as a tough game.”
We want to put up a good show for everyone back home, he added Misbah.
“I think coming from Pakistan it’s really difficult to adjust to the conditions, especially the weather, but I think we have played a game in Scotland and then in Ireland two games, so it really helped us to acclimatize here, especially now it’s really cold here, also, but I think that’s really going to help us.
“I guess the early summer conditions of England are about as tough as you can get for the likes of you with the swing bowling and the movement of the ball?
Yes, we have this, I think, in Scotland and then in Ireland especially, the last two games. The ball was really moving in the air. So everybody has suggested that, and they’re ready to just face those sort of conditions. I think in England especially it will be better than Ireland, so I think mentally everybody is ready and now getting ready for this tournament.
he further said that in this tournament the top eight teams are playing, so no team is an easy team here. You have to take every game as a tough game. Top eight teams, you never know who’s going to beat who. So you need to be 100 percent all the time. You can’t relax in this sort of tournament.
The defeat I South Africa would be of great help to boost the team level.
“I think that really helps us because that was really a tough series for us, tough team, tough conditions, playing away from home. So that experience is going to help us here. Mentally the guys are more tougher after playing the top team in their own conditions, and especially won a T20 and won two ODIs — that gave us a lot of confidence after the Test matches. We really showed a good show there and everybody really played well. I think that really gave us a lot of confidence to do well here.”
In Champons Trophy, every game is important. Coming into this tournament, I think the first two games are more so important for us because the last game, you may know if you are in or out of the tournament. Obviously playing against India is always important because of the interest of people back there in India and Pakistan, all over the world I think, huge fan club for these two teams, so it’s really important for us to play well in that game and just win. For both teams I think it’s very important, but I think every game is important here in this tournament.
“You always have to be positive and think that we’re going to win this.”
Playing at Edgbaston was special for us because a lot of fans here for Pakistan cricket team and a lot of followers here. I haven’t played before here, but Pakistan team really had good record here. Even in the last series Pakistan won a Test match and played really well. We’re really looking forward to enjoying these games.
The tournament is really important. It’s the last Champions Trophy, everybody knows that. Everybody knows that it’s after the World Cup this is the biggest tournament of this game, so we’re really looking forward to that. Everybody back home is really looking forward to that, and we really want to put a good show here.
“I think the way the team is playing, it’s really positive. Everybody is just chipping in, all in form, so it’s really nice to be here with this sort of confidence.”
