MULTAN, Sept 29: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq is confident his revitalised team can win their first home one-day cricket title ahead of their opening tri-series match against outsiders Zimbabwe at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
The hosts' real test is expected to come against Asian champions Sri Lanka, the third team in the tournament in which all sides face each other twice before the top two play-off in the Oct 16 day/night final at the Qadhafi Stadium in Lahore.
Pakistan has never won a home one-day tournament after failing in the 1987 and 1996 World Cups and in a tri-series in 1994-95 and a four-team tournament in 1997-98.
"I am confident that we will win our first home one-day title and although we know Zimbabwe are ranked outsiders due to missing their key players we will not take them lightly," said Inzamam, whose side has shown improvement under new English coach Bob Woolmer.
Since Woolmer's arrival in June this year, Pakistan won four of their five matches in the Asia Cup in July in Sri Lanka followed by a runners-up finish to Australia in a tri-series in Amstelveen, Holland last month.
They also came close to beating Australia in a one-off One-day International at Lord's before losing to the West Indies in the semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy in England.
"We have shown improvement but the real thing is (finding) the winning finish where we have shown weakness and need to overcome that problem," said Inzamam. "We lost to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup and now need to beat them to win the title," said Inzamam, who last week became only the second batsman after India's Sachin Tendulkar to score 10,000 one-day runs.
Pakistan have included two uncapped players in batsman Bazid Khan, son of former captain Majid Khan, and pacer Rao Iftikhar in their 15-man squad for the series. Zimbabwe, mired in turmoil after a rebellion by 15 white players including captain Heath Streak and the suspension of their Test status, drew a two-day tour opener in Pakistan before suffering an innings defeat last week in a four-day match against the PCB Patron's XI.
"We are a young team but we can take inspiration from our good showing against Sri Lanka in England earlier this month where we gave them a run for their money," said Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu, who, at 20 years of age, became the youngest ever international captain in April this year. "We have set targets for ourselves so it's a process of learning to overcome what happened in the last six months," said Taibu.
TEAMS (FROM):
PAKISTAN: Inzamamul Haq (captain), Shahid Afridi, Yasir Hameed, Bazid Khan, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Moin Khan, Misbahul Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Rana Naveedul Hasan, Rao Iftikhar.
ZIMBABWE: Tatenda Taibu, Brendon Taylor, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Dion Ebrahim, Mark Vermeulen, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Alestar Maregwede, Mluleki Nkala, Elton Chigumbura, Edward Rainsford, Tawanda Mupariwa, Prosper Utseya, Douglas Hondo, Tinashe Panyangara, Graeme Alexander Cremer
UMPIRES: Nadeem Ghauri (Pakistan) and Mark Benson (England).
TV UMPIRE: Asad Rauf (Pakistan).
MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand). -AFP