World Cup: Waqar happy Pakistan not among favourites
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ISLAMABAD: Head coach Waqar Younis is happy Pakistan is not among the favorites for the World Cup and said Saturday it will keep his team focused on next month's event without any added pressure.
Pakistan was not among the top teams at the 2011 World Cup but went on to reach the semifinals before losing to eventual champion India.
“To be honest, it's a big pressure of being favorites,” Younis told reporters.
“There are teams like Australia and South Africa which are accustomed to playing on bouncy wickets (of Australia and New Zealand) and are probably more favorites than us.”
Pakistan's four-day training camp concluded in Lahore on Friday and it will leave for New Zealand next Tuesday to play a two-match one-day international series before flying to Australia.
Pakistan got a setback as Junaid Khan suffered a hamstring injury during training last Thursday, but the Pakistan Cricket Board said the left-arm fast bowler will accompany the team to New Zealand next Tuesday.
“We had problems with our fast bowlers for the last few months and of course the recent episode with Junaid is a setback,” Younis said.
“All the bowlers will have to share the workload until the World Cup and probably that's the way to get the best combination.”
Younis himself has some bitter memories of the World Cup as he had to fly back home just before the 1992 event in Australia due to injury and Pakistan went on to win the title.
“The World Cup has never been so much kind to me, there's no doubt about that,” he said.
“I have been involved with the Pakistan team in so many World Cups that it's hard to keep count of it. We have some sweet memories too as we played in the 1999 final and then in the semifinals in 2011.”
Pakistan will be without suspended offspinner Saeed Ajmal while Younis wanted another suspended offspinner Mohammad Hafeez to go through his official retesting of the bowling action before Pakistan's crunch opening group match against archrival India on Feb. 14.
Hafeez had been included in the 15-man World Cup squad and if he doesn't clear his retesting he will play as a batsman. Pakistan has never beaten India in a World Cup match, but Younis said it's good that both teams were competing against each other early in the tournament.
“I look at it in another way, if we win (against India) our morale will fly high,” he said.
“Our target is to hit form before the World Cup and whichever team hits the form, it will be ideal for them.”
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Comments (47) Closed
Jan 17, 2015 05:18pm
It does not matter if we are favorites or not. What matters is we should win the World cup.
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Jan 17, 2015 05:29pm
Bouncy wickets: I have lost count the number of times sposedly knowledgeable cricketers made the point that Australian wickets are bouncy.
I am appalled that they can not make pitches comparable to any in the world. Every cricket stadium in Pakistan should have different types of pitches for the players to practice on.
It only needs a dolup of common sense a bit of technical knowledge and a couple of bags of lime the gardening kind which the gardeners put on the soil to reduce the acidity of the soil for planting crops that do not like acidic soil. It take no more than sixmonths to produce a pitch to your prescription.
Is it rocket science? For God sake somebody help the poor pcb.
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Jan 17, 2015 05:39pm
So what , please tell us if your team can avoid the disaster the 3rd time around . In one of those I suppose you were even he Captain of the team when humilated green shirts packed their bags at the group stages !!
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Jan 17, 2015 05:49pm
I agree with Waqar. But we want SHAHID AFRIDI as the captain of WC squad.
Also, Fawad Alam must include in place of Md. Hafeez.
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Jan 17, 2015 05:50pm
I gotta feeling that pakistan gonna be world champion.
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Jan 17, 2015 05:57pm
Favourites or not pak will lose against india and crash out in quarterfinals.
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Jan 17, 2015 06:29pm
If we are favourites then we are happy if we are not among favourites then we are happy. Haha pointless statement
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Jan 17, 2015 06:31pm
This is the most ridiculous and negative comment I have read in life. If we should not expect our team to win then why we pay you all so much money for losing. Look at Australians, NewZealanders, etc. .. they are playing only to win and look at our losers.. .who are making us feel comfortable by saying that we are going there only for sight seeing and shopping with wife. Yes, definitely Younus is settled their and an Aussie now so he is going home and enjoying with his wife and kids but what about us Pakistan as a nation.. should not we also watch your matches too...!!!
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Jan 17, 2015 06:52pm
My favorite is always Pakistan.
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Jan 17, 2015 06:58pm
meanwhile india is counting of drs to magically turn balls in their favor .. lol
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Jan 17, 2015 07:09pm
Crazy thinking...this is very passive approach
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Jan 17, 2015 07:15pm
He is running away from his responsibility. By making such a junior level of statement he is only trying to save his skin because he knows too well that Pakistan will not even come close to wining rhe world cup. The way players have been selected we will be eliminated in the very first round.
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Jan 17, 2015 07:35pm
Pakistan is seventh favourite to win as per bookies.
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Jan 17, 2015 07:36pm
Whenever Pakistan were favourite they performed poorly apart from 1999 and 1987world cups.
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Jan 17, 2015 07:36pm
Pakistan has virtually no chance . For a decade it has been ranked 6th or lower.
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Jan 17, 2015 07:37pm
@harsh over confident I must say
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Jan 17, 2015 07:40pm
I dont even expect PK to win a single game. When you have self destructive PCB leaving Alam out and losing Ajmal I reckon even beating Bang, Ireland, Afghan, Zimb will be challenging. Maybe as usual Afridi will do some magic in one game out 5 as he usually does. Afridis batting scores per game 0,3,0,43,1
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Jan 17, 2015 08:10pm
The part that caught my eye was that Younis has been playing since before 1992? and He is NOT 40 years old yet? What happened,did they stop counting the years after the year 2000?
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Jan 17, 2015 08:28pm
India and Pakistan whether wins world cup or not, all they want to see India Pakistan clash, and whoever wins, will rejoice. That is what happened in the Asian Games/Hockey Champions trophy, Bubhaneshwar, India, 2014. It has become a matter of prestige for both the nation.
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Jan 17, 2015 09:47pm
I am a die heart pakistani fan following cricket when I was 6 years old and since first WC IN 1975 and with the experience of following so many matches of all the countries my gut feeling is that pakistan will crash out in the QF if we are lucky to reach there. First match against India will be a one sided affair if India bat first they will score somewhere around 325 and we will get out around 225 or so and if we bst first we will make around 230 and will lose by 7 or 8 wickets with 6 or 7 overs to spare. Kohli will score 80 or more and from Pakistan misbah will be the top scorer of 56 in 85 balls
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Jan 17, 2015 10:13pm
Pakistan team may not be rich team but it is a world class cricket team. Pak need to play positive as they did in Aus.
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Jan 17, 2015 10:51pm
@Guest65 third time ??please explain ........since Pakistan did well in the last wc and were eliminated in the semi finals
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Jan 17, 2015 10:58pm
If Waqar and selection committee believe in justice then they should be afraid of exiting from world cup not because of poor performance but because of injustice they did to players like Razzak, Fawad Aalam and Anwar Ali. Allah is not unjust. You can fool the nation but not the God almighty. Waqar was convicted of match fixing. A match fixer coaching the national team? Only in Pakistan.
Remember the 1999 world cup. The team fixed the match against Bangladesh and lost against them. Won all other matches but the justice of Allah prevailed. Pakistan team scored only 139 runs in the final and was thrashed by Australians.
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Jan 17, 2015 11:03pm
My best wishes re with the Pakistani team. Bur here are some facts.
Waqar Younus: Previous WC outings. 1992 injured did not take part and Pakistan won because of Wasim Akram, Miandad and Inzimam. Rameez scored two centuries in 1992 WC. Mushtaq, Aaqib Javed and Aamir Sohail also contributed towards this WC win.
1996: lost quarter finals due to poor bowling by Waqar Younus.
1999: reached final under Wasim Akram. Waqar Younus was not selected in any of the important matches.
2003. Waqar Younus was captain. Pakistan didn't reach quarter final. Poor captainship, poor bowling, poor team selection when Saleem Elahi was preferred over Shoaib Malik and the best bowler Sami was not selected.
2007. Did not reach quarter final, beaten by Ireland in group matches. Poor batting by Younus Khan while Azhar Mehmood was preferred over Danish Kaneria on a spinning pitch.
2011. Reached semi-finals under Shahid Afridi. Lost due to slow batting by Younus Khan and Misbah plus twelve dropped catches, six of them by Kamran Akmal. In the crucial semi-finals Waqar dropped Shoaib Akhtar which was the cause of a rift with Shahid Afridi.
2015. Once again Waqar Younus is coach with Misbah as captain and Younus Khan as the batsman on VVI 3rd position. Selected players are making press statements and interviews on a daily basis with Umar Akmal comparing himself to Kohli. Dawn survey gives 60-40% chance against Pakistan. Selection of the team widely criticized. No all rounder's.
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Jan 17, 2015 11:06pm
So Mr Coach by your own claim the pitches are bouncy in Australia, therefore you have selected Hafeez, probably the "best" player of fast bowling on bouncy pitches.
Sweet memories of 1999 final ? Really? For the nation it was nightmare. Pakistan team were all out for 139 runs !! Thrashed by Australians. Drugs do wonders.
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Jan 18, 2015 12:07am
@Nadir. I agree with all the numbers and the results you predict. Except for Misbah. He will not make 56 of 85 balls but 60 of 111 balls and will be not out. By doing so, his average will improve and he will be very content and happy because a lot of my country mates only looks at the average score per inning.
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Jan 18, 2015 12:11am
I think this statement is just to set the expectation of Pakistani fans. He is subtly telling and asking Pakistani fans not to get angry if they can't win it. Everything else is a bonus. This is also a subtle idea that Pakistan is not "Big 3" and as age old rhetoric, he keeps on claiming that winning against India should be a as good as winning world cup. Someone needs to tell him that they are not going to play just against India but other teams too.
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Jan 18, 2015 12:19am
@harsh - "pak will lose against india and crash out in quarterfinals". Really? Why are you always so harsh?
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Jan 18, 2015 12:57am
What a way of making excuses before the world cup... Mr. Waqar, finding the reasons for defeat is Misbah's job and he is quite capable of giving the reasons for any kind of failure. Leave it to him.
You already have done your work in keeping away Fawad Alam. We are not expecting anything more.
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Jan 18, 2015 01:40am
Excellent idea to keep your job
without any pressure,hey we are not favourites if we win ok if we lose not my problem we were not favourites .there is still time bring back Mohsin Khan as coach maybe we can win the World Cup .
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Jan 18, 2015 01:41am
Yeah so it will easy to hide our shame when we are knocked out from the tournament in style ... and he goes back to his home in Sydney
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Jan 18, 2015 02:23am
Old Hags like Younis should be kicked out of team. A mere average of 31 after 269 ODIs and a pathetic average of 18.65 in Australia.The guy is a joke in ODI and he is traveling on the expense of promising youngster like Fawad Alam who has proven himself time and again!
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Jan 18, 2015 02:32am
I agree bro no more expectation because the team is not unite what hapen if we give them 1992 shirt
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Jan 18, 2015 03:12am
Pakistani team is unpredictable. It does not play professionally. Once it is prompted no team can face it, if dwindled no one can stop its stumbling
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Jan 18, 2015 04:38am
Well a demoralizing statement from a disgusting coach. It is a submission to accept defeat.
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Jan 18, 2015 04:55am
This is a second photo I seen in last two days that Waqar is giving tips to our Batsman not a bowler. Waqar should work with bowlers not with the batsman.
May be this is going on , not a right person for particular job.
Shezad ,please do not apply tips of Waqar, I still remember Ireland victory against us which causes Heart attack to Bob Walmer.
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Jan 18, 2015 04:57am
Lose against India is not acceptable. Do not listen to Waqar we lost against India in 1996 WC when he was captained and sent Javed Miadad on number 7. Still he was a highest scorer.
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Jan 18, 2015 05:13am
@harsh keep dreaming. Never forget Mirpur
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Jan 18, 2015 08:21am
Wish he will be happy throughout his life.....
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Jan 18, 2015 08:34am
@harsh A bit arrogant, aren't ya?
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Jan 18, 2015 09:45am
@Harmony This time India has lesser chances as well to make it to the finals.
We are more of a new team with a bunch of young talent.
So, all the best to both India and Pakistan.
May the best team wins.
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Jan 18, 2015 12:49pm
Accepting defeat before start of the game.!!!
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Jan 18, 2015 01:13pm
@D in 1996 WC, Aamir Sohail was captain in absence of Wasim Akram. But Yes, Waqar was against Javaid Miandad.
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Jan 18, 2015 04:06pm
I have feeling that Pakistan will win this world cup...all the stats and logic would be discussed after winning...Go Pakistan Go!
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Jan 19, 2015 03:36am
@Guest65 All the losers of WC are together. Waqar Younus was captain now he is coach, Shaharyar Khan was chairman he is aging chairman. Younus Khan was in the team he failed badly with the bat. Mohammad Sami didn't get a chance to bowl as Waqar Younus played as a third fast bowler along with Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhter. Waqar gave 71 runs in 8.3 overs.
In 1999 WC Wajahatullah Wasti, Ijaz Ahmad, Moin Khan and Azhar Mahmoud scored 37 runs in total by all four.
The chairman, selectors, coach and captain have a negative approach towards the game as they lack confidence. These are all facts so what one can expect from this group.
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Jan 19, 2015 12:02pm
It is a stupid comment and a pessimist thinking. We are not favorites because our team is weak on paper and in recent times performing poorly.
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Jan 19, 2015 10:12pm
@A Pakistani - Javed Miandad should have resigned when he was removed from captainship 1n 1993 after the tour of England in 1992 when he was captain and Pakistan won the series against England. in 1993 Waqar, Wasim and Rameez Raja revolted against Miandad the same people have revolted against Imran Khan in 1992.
If Javed Miandad was captain of Pakistan in 1996 WC it would have been a different story. Miandad would have saved the onslaught on Waqar Younus by removing him from bowling the last two overs. Miandad would have batter at number 4 while he would have sent Salim Malik at number 3. The batting of Ijaz Ahmad at number 4 and the dearth bowling by Waqar Younus when he gave so many runs in his last two overs and Pakistan ;lost the match with just 39 runs. Waqar conceded over 40 runs in his last 3 overs and made 4 runs in 21 balls and remained not out. How can a senior player score so slow in such a crucial match.
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