LAHORE, Oct 13: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq has said that he wants to win the last league match against Sri Lanka in order to go into the three-nation final against the same side with a greater psychological edge.
"We have a plan for Thursday's match and that is to simply win so that our boys have strong confidence in the final." Inzamam was speaking at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka have already qualified for the final to be played at the Qadhafi Stadium on Saturday. Inzamam avoided to predict Pakistan's chances of victory. However, to a question about the home ground and crowd advantages to his team, he said that both would not play a major role for Pakistan.
"The pitch condition and weather atmosphere are similar in all countries of the continent so I see no advantage from such things," he said. Asked if he considered that Sri Lanka could stage a comeback after losing Karachi's match, Inzamam remarked "Sri Lanka are a good side and you can't predict your victory on the basis that you have already beaten them."
Inzamam said that one or two changes were likely and added he would prefer to go with regular wicket keeper. Asked if the availability of Moin Khan met with his strategy of playing with a part-timer wicket keeper Younis Khan, Inzamam said "No, my first preference is to play with a regular wicket keeper, though the experience of using Younis was good."
When asked why he did not go for a regular keeper Kamran Akmal in Peshawar's ODI Inzamam said that because the player had not been playing for Pakistan for a long time.Asked then why Kamran was called by the selectors, he said that because the availability of a regular keeper was essential.
"India are using Rahul Dravid regularly as part time wicket keeper despite having regular wicket keeper, so it is all part of the strategy," he said. Asked if he was not keen for preparing a wicket keeper for future by ignoring Kamran, he said that a place in the Pakistan team was not essential to groom any player.
"There are Pakistan 'A' team, junior and National Academy to groom the players and getting place in the national team is only based on performance," he said. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said that the pitch was favourable for batting and he saw 300-plus runs in an innings.
Asked why the team management was giving chances to Yasir Hameed, who could not bat impressively in last six innings and dropped Bazid Khan and Misbahul Haq after giving less chances, he said that Yasir was an experienced player and hopefully he would regain his form.