June 27, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 11, 1428

LAHORE, June 26: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik on Tuesday refrained from predicting the results of the forthcoming games against India and hosts Scotland in Glasgow from July 1 to 3 but promised that the players would put in their best to win the contests.

The 15-member Pakistan team is scheduled to leave from Lahore for Glasgow on Wednesday morning.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, Shoaib stated that his focus was to bring out top quality performance from his boys and to give a tough fight to any team without caring about win or defeat.

“We are going there to display maximum show of our talent and I hope the boys are quite fit to earn their objective from the tour,” said

Shoaib who will be leading Pakistan for the second time after winning the three-match series against Sri Lanka 2-0 in Abu Dhabi last April.

Shoaib, who was named skipper in December this year in place of Inzamam-ul-Haq after the 2007 World Cup, said India had selected a well-balanced side for the series and hopefully the spectators would enjoy thrilling cricket in the match between the two arch-rivals.

He said though the Scotland tour was short, the matches would see the real talent of players and would help the boys to hone their skills further. “We held a good training camp in Abbotabad, but what we will get from the two matches in Scotland is most important because it will bring forth the real talent of the players,” said Shoaib.

He disclosed that special wickets were prepared for the training camp in Abbotabad which were conducive to the environment of Scotland and hopefully the boys would not face any problem due to seaming or fast tracks there.

“The army trainer had prepared a comprehensive fitness training programme for us in Abbotabad and I believe Pakistan has good local trainers who can perform well,” he said.

Avoiding to make any comments on the appointment of Salman Butt as his new deputy, Shoaib said it was the right of the PCB to pick any person to assist him and he had no problems whatsoever in this regard.

Shoaib admitted that though the games in Scotland will not fully prepare the team for the challenging Twenty20 World Cup, to be held in South Africa in September, it would give the boys considerable international exposure before the mega event.

The PCB is also under negotiation to have a four-nation Twenty20 series in August before the World Cup either.