Rashid Latif: Pakistan is still a dangerous side

JOHANNESBURG (South Africa), February 1: Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif believes the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup match against England is the most crucial for the 1992 world champions and his team's chances of reaching the semifinals or the final would depend on that game.

Rashid Latif Photo © CricInfo

"I know most of the people think the match against Australia or India is crucial. But I believe the game against England at Cape Town on February 22 is the most important. It is a match in between the games against Australia and India.

"If we beat England, I am sure we will reach the semifinals and if luck favours us on that day, we will qualify for the final," the gutsy wicketkeeper said on Saturday.

Pakistan take on Australia here on February 11 while the match against India is on March 1 at the Centurion.

Rashid agreed that the repeat of the 1999 World Cup final match between Australia and Pakistan was mouth-watering for followers of the game.

"But you see it will be the first game of the World Cup for both the teams and none would be guaranteed a victory. It will be open and anybody's game. But as the tournament progresses, there would be more self-confidence and the real strength of the teams would be on display," he said.

Rashid said the game against England is vital because it is the only preliminary round game Pakistan is playing under floodlights. "Everybody knows the Cape Town wicket plays tricks. If we win there, we would be on a roll because prior to that game we would have played Namibia and then after the England game we would be playing Holland. Naturally, when you are on a winning spree, the confidence level of the team is sky-high and therefore, odds will be heavily in our favour for the game against India."

India, on the contrary, will play Pakistan after having tackled England at Durban under lights on February 26.

Rashid tipped Pakistan to appear in the March 23 final but he refused to predict the opponent.

"I can only talk about my team and I know we are training very hard and are having quality nets. I can see that there is enormous team spirit and when there is team spirit, we are probably the most dangerous side. That's precisely why, the pundits of the game have also not ruled us out despite a poor recent performance.

"I think we would be extremely unlucky and unfortunate if we don't play in the final. And God forbid, if that happens we will at least have the satisfaction that we tried our level best," he said.

Rashid said Pakistan has an excellent track record in the World Cup. He said Pakistan was probably the only team that had the capacity to bounce back when chips are down or when they are not one of the favourites. He cited the example of 1992 and 1999 when Pakistan reached the final after coming from behind as underdogs.

"You know the best part of this present team is that the fire is burning in the tummies of the senior players who want to win at any cost. Naturally, when there is venom amongst the seniors, the younger boys are automatically motivated. Trust me all the boys just can't wait for the tournament to start.

"I believe we have all the ingredients to win the tournament. We have a lethal bowling attack and a strong batting lineup that has been bolstered with the return of Saeed Anwar. I think we will easily defend a score of say around 235."

Rashid was of the view that Pakistan's recent poor performance was because of extensive cricket on offshore venues and injuries to key players.

"We had a good first half of the year because all the boys were fresh and there were no injury problems. But as the year progressed, we had more injuries and then the players also started to get tired.

"In South Africa, we were tired and depleted and then the home team made bouncy pitches to their advantage. The only time we got a wicket to our liking was at Port Elizabeth, where we posted around 350 to win by a record margin," he said.

Nevertheless, Rashid said the World Cup would be a different tournament where the pitches would be more suited to batsmen. He added that the pitches would be drier because of the hot and humid conditions and that would also assist Pakistan fast bowlers to get the ball to reverse swing.

Samiul Hasan
Media Manager
Pakistan Cricket Team
February 1, 2003