NEWS
OPINION
GALLERY
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS

Just two matches from lifting the trophy: Wasim

Pakistan captain Wasim Akram today expressed confidence that his team will regain the World Cup at Lord's on June 20.

''We are in form now, we are focused and our aim is the World Cup,'' he said, adding, ''We are just just two matches away from lifting the trophy.''

Pakistan, after three consecutive defeats, scored an emphatic148-run win over Zimbabwe that booked their place in the semis.

Wasim said his confidence was based on the return to form by the top order batsmen as they were the main factors in the win over Zimbabwe, with opener Saeed Anwar scoring 103, the first century by a Pakistani in this tournament.

''I have been saying all along that Saeed is one of the best openers in the world, one of the best batsmen infact. His confidence is back and he has shown that,'' the Pakistan skipper said. ''Now we just need one more senior to get some runs and we will be back in the hunt.''

Wasim was happy with the performance of opener Wajahatullah Wasti, who hit his tournament best of 40 of 42 balls yesterday, and added, ''fridi at number six played even better so everything went right as we had planned."

The skipper said he would like to continue with same combination for the semis. "With the way we are playing, I'm not worried who our rivals are,'' he said.

''We are in the semis, one game away from the final. Players are full of confidence, they can rise to the occasion and they can beat any side, he added."

"One of the openers or the middle order has to bat up to the 40th or 45th over and hopefully after their mistakes they will try to play through to the 50th over. One of them, Inzamam, Ijaz or Saeed, has to do that and then we can play around them,'' he said.

He was of the view that his side's three successive defeats by Bangladesh, South Africa and India were because ''we had more of a mental problem than anything else", but admitted that it did keep him under pressure.

Wasim disclosed that he has been receiving calls from Pakistan, saying 'do this or do that', 'why are you playing this player' or 'why are you not playing him', and "I have to answer every one".

Asked who were the callers, Wasim candidly said, ''The higher authorities.''

UNI