LAHORE, May 30 Stressing there were no hot favourites in the World Twenty20 Championship where the team displaying better cricket on any given day will win, coach Intikhab Alam backed his rigorously trained team, comprising youth and experience, to do well in the global spectacle starting in England on June 5.

Talking to reporters here before the team's departure to England to take part in the global extravaganza, Intikhab said the boys were well prepared for the event and hoped the team would perform impressively.

“In this [Twenty20] format of cricket no team can be declared as hot favourites. The team playing better [than the opponents] on any given day will win,” Intikhab said.

On Shoaib Akhtar, the former Test captain expressed that unfortunately the fast bowler could not be the part of the (World Twenty20 Championship) squad because of his fitness problem.

The coach said Pakistan would play warm-up matches against South Africa (June 1) and India (June 3) before playing their first encounter of the World Championship against hosts England on June 7 at The Oval.

Pakistan are in group 'B' of the tournament along with England and the Netherlands.

While 14 members of the selected squad left for London via Dubai Yasir Arafat, the 15th player, will join them in England as he is already playing county games there.

In the first World Twenty20 Pakistan remained runners-up after losing an action-packed final by a very close margin to arch-rivals India at the Wanderers, Johannesburg.

Surprisingly, the national selection committee had picked the 15-member squad well before the National Twenty20 Cup, which ended here on Friday. A very few players, who have performed well in the national event, are included in the England-bound Pakistan squad.

Two exceptional performers in the National Twenty20 — Abdul Razzaq (eleven wickets) and Imran Nazir (211 runs) — could not find places in the World Twenty20 squad due to the ill-timed organisation of the National Twenty20. The matter of affiliation of both players with the breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL) also had an effect on their non-selection for the world event. And though Razzaq was cleared to play for Pakistan on Friday by the PCB, it was too late for the mighty hitter to be considered for the national duty.

Reuters adds Pakistan are confident that a tough conditioning camp and psychological counselling will make up for a lack of playing time and prepare the team for a serious assault on the World Twenty20 Championship.

Intikhab advocated the strength of careful preparation going into the second edition of the 12-nation event.

“No one can make any predictions about Twenty20 matches but I am backing my team to do very well because the preparations have been top-class,” he said.

Intikhab insisted that Pakistan's loss to India in the last World Twenty20 final still hurt his players and acted as an incentive to go one better this time around.

“They have been through a gruelling conditioning camp in the mountains and have had very productive sessions with a sports psychologist,” he added.

A better thing that happened for Pakistan was the clearance of the bowling action of off-spinner Saeed Ajmal — included in England-bound squad — last week after he had been reported by match officials for a suspect action.

Intikhab said there were plenty of capable players in the side.

“Whether it's a Test, ODI or Twenty20 International, the sports psychologist has impressed upon the guys that cricket is a team game and not about individuals,” he said.

The Pakistan coach said his team had some very experienced players who had the ability to adjust quickly to English conditions.

“I don't think that would be a problem. What we must guard against is complacency, because no opponents can be taken lightly,” he said.

The coach, a 47-Test veteran, added Pakistan's strength lay in its varied bowling attack and they had the pace bowlers to exploit pitches in England.

Squad Younis Khan (captain), Ahmed Shahzad, Salman Butt, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Saeed Ajmal, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Aamir.