September 22, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 09, 1428

CAPE TOWN, Sept 21: Captain Shoaib Malik has expressed his delight that Pakistan have maintained their winning streak in the Super Eights stage of the Twenty20 World Championship, asserting that the team now face a testing contest in the semi-final, to be played on Saturday.

“I am very happy that we concluded our campaign in the Super Eights phase by winning all the three matches. And now comes the most challenging part – the semi-final – and there is no way out except to go all out for the victory,” he said here on Thursday after Pakistan beat Bangladesh by four wickets at Newlands.

While praising the performance of his players, Shoaib attributed the success at the World Twenty20 to team efforts and guidance of the team management particularly coach Geoff Lawson who, the captain said, was working thoroughly on improving the team’s weak areas including fielding.

“His (Lawson’s) presence is a big support to us because he minutely watches the performance of every player, listing their mistakes and then works on them.” he said. “Due to his extraordinary interest we have been able to bring improvement in all departments of the game including fielding.”

While declining to predict the likely outcome of the semi-final against New Zealand, Shoaib was optimistic that his team had a fair chance to win.

“In the semi-final we cannot take any chance, we have to avoid major mistakes besides preventing extra runs due to fielding lapses to reach the trophy decider,” the captain emphasised.

Although chasing the totals has been the preferred route, Shoaib didn’t think it was the only way to go, saying: “If you have a strong bowling line-up up you can bat first and put pressure on the other team.”

About the Newlands track, the Pakistan skipper said it looked decent.

“It looks good,” he said. “But the outfield is heavy so 165-170 should be a good total.”

The sunshine of recent days is also expected to be replaced by a touch more cloud cover, offering more assistance for the bowlers.

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori, meanwhile, believed it would have been harsh for the Kiwis, who have lost several major pre-finals in the past, to miss out on the semi-finals in Cape Town on Saturday.

“Sometimes we have scraped through, but this time I think we deserved it but luckily enough for us it worked out well. We make a lot of them (semi-finals) now it’s about kicking on.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has termed the achievement of his team at the Twenty20 World Championship a clear indication that the squad is gradually blending into a winning combination.

Lawson, a former Australian Test paceman, stated that reaching the semi-finals of the grand event is an achievement not expected earlier.

“Before the start of the championship people and critics feared that this (Pakistan) team cannot reach the Super Eights phase but the team’s up-to-the-mark performance has proved all such predictions wrong,” he said here on Thursday.

Lawson, who took charge of the Pakistan team few weeks before the Twenty20 World Championship, insisted that a team’s success story could be judged through their show against different opponents.

“We faced different types of rivals – from the preliminary round to the Super Eights phase – and so there were different levels of competitions; obviously there were varied challenges midway but the team overcame all of them successfully,” he noted.

Lawson said from the start of the tournament till now Pakistan exhibited a great level of competitiveness and determination which helped them show consistency.

“We lost one game to India and I would say it was a decent defeat as we almost had won and then suddenly could not perform in the bowl-out format which was new to the players,” he said, adding, “After beating Scotland the way we played against Sri Lanka and then Australia is a credit to establish the team’s reputation as a winning side.”

Expressing his admiration for Pakistan’s performance in the event so far, the coach hoped Pakistan would emerge as winners in the pre-final.

“Now we are in a do-or-die situation, so we should apply the same approach and exhibition of talent to keep the momentum going,” he said. “In the semi-finals or a final it depends how committed the players are and I have pinned high hopes that they would accomplish the task.

“We have a good pace attack in Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul who are capable of giving tough time to any batting line-up. Then we have some competent batsmen besides a couple of good all-rounders. So I think it is a right combination needed by a team,” he said.

The Aussie coach further said that the skipper’s individual performance has also inspired the team members.

“Shoaib Malik’s performance is an inspiration for the team and I would say well done boys, keep up the good work; you have just a couple of steps to go further to win a title.” —Agencies