T20 World Cup: Pakistan looking to cement place in semis, India face elimination

By Ehsan Qureshi in UAE

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Babar Azam's Team Pakistan, fresh from consecutive victories over the fancied trio of India, New Zealand and Afghanistan, look forward to securing their spot in the semifinals of ICC T20 World Cup when they take on minnows Namibia here at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on November 2. 

Pakistan will be going hard at the young African nation to sustain their winning momentum and top form. In my opinion, they are unlikely to make any changes in their winning combination although they will be expected better performance from veteran Muhammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman and Hasan Ali ahead of the crunch knockout games. 

The Pakistan players will be expected to keep their feet at the ground because of the highly unpredictable nature of the shorter format where an odd brilliance could change fortunes against the run of play. 

The mood in Pakistan camp is cheerful and buoyant. After two days of complete rest, main players have had extensive training session at ICC Academy Ground Dubai on November 1. 

However what was witnessed at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on October 31 was truly incredible as India tumbled once more against New Zealand and now Virat Kohli’s men in blue are at brink of elimination from the event they are hosting. 

Team India and their staunch supporters seemed to be paying for their arrogance, overconfident approach and not treating their opponents fairly in the arena. This is huge lesson and tragedy for Indian cricket despite everything in their favour they suffered ignominy. 

After witnessing Indian powerplay when they lost cream of their batting, the writing was very much on the wall for them. I witnessed the training sessions of the Pakistan reserves at the ICC Academy. 

When returning, I had come across hundreds of Indian deserting the Dubai Stadium after 10 overs of New Zealand innings. The spectators, which included elderly men and women coming along with their families, were deeply hurt, disappointed and dismayed with below par show by the highly rated Indian team. 

When I spoke to one cricket lover, Arvind from Chennai, he expressed his disappointment at India’s tame defeats but complimented Pakistan and New Zealand for their resounding triumph. A big fan of Babar Azam, he expected Pakistan to win the trophy now. When I tried to speak to a couple of young ladies for their reaction they just vanished after knowing that I came from Pakistan media.