As the anticipation builds for the India vs Pakistan clash on Sunday, the conversation in the press conferences is already being shifted towards the match. Ahead of Pakistan's opening match against Oman, coach Mike Hesson acknowledged the challenge posed by India and said his team is ready to rise to face the world champions.
"We know that India are obviously hugely confident, and rightfully so, in terms of how well they've played. We're very much focused on improving as a team, sort of day by day, and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, but we're well aware of the... I wouldn't say the enormity of the task, I'd say the challenge of the task ahead, and we're certainly looking forward to it," he said.
Hesson also expressed trust in his bowling attack and showed confidence in spin bowling all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz. The left armer, who missed out on Pakistan's T20 World Cup squad last year, made a stunning return, and took a hat-trick and a five-wicket haul against Afghanistan in the tri-series final involving UAE.
"I guess the beauty of our side is we've got five spinners. We've got Mohammed Nawaz, who's the best spin bowler in the world at the moment, and he's been ranked that way over the last six months since he's come back in the side. And obviously we've had Abrar [Ahmed] and Sufiyan [Muqeem] do as well as he has. Saim Ayub is now in the top ten all-rounders in the world. So obviously that comes on the back of his improved performance with the ball. And Salman Ali Agha has hardly bowled, and he's obviously the test spinner for Pakistan," he added.
The match will take place in Dubai, the same venue where India crushed UAE by winning by nine wickets and 93 balls to spare. Pakistan will get a chance to adapt to the conditions in their match against Oman at the same venue.
Hesson, however, said that the conditions could be different and the pitch might not offer as much spin as Sharjah did, when they bowled out Afghanistan under 100.
He added, "Look, I don't think you can expect that this pitch is gonna spin like it did in Sharjah. And even yesterday when Kuldeep [Yadav] bowled, it didn't spin a huge amount. I think whenever you've got wrist spinners like that it doesn't really matter about the surface as much."
"We know that India are obviously hugely confident, and rightfully so, in terms of how well they've played. We're very much focused on improving as a team, sort of day by day, and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, but we're well aware of the... I wouldn't say the enormity of the task, I'd say the challenge of the task ahead, and we're certainly looking forward to it," he said.
Hesson also expressed trust in his bowling attack and showed confidence in spin bowling all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz. The left armer, who missed out on Pakistan's T20 World Cup squad last year, made a stunning return, and took a hat-trick and a five-wicket haul against Afghanistan in the tri-series final involving UAE.
"I guess the beauty of our side is we've got five spinners. We've got Mohammed Nawaz, who's the best spin bowler in the world at the moment, and he's been ranked that way over the last six months since he's come back in the side. And obviously we've had Abrar [Ahmed] and Sufiyan [Muqeem] do as well as he has. Saim Ayub is now in the top ten all-rounders in the world. So obviously that comes on the back of his improved performance with the ball. And Salman Ali Agha has hardly bowled, and he's obviously the test spinner for Pakistan," he added.
The match will take place in Dubai, the same venue where India crushed UAE by winning by nine wickets and 93 balls to spare. Pakistan will get a chance to adapt to the conditions in their match against Oman at the same venue.
Hesson, however, said that the conditions could be different and the pitch might not offer as much spin as Sharjah did, when they bowled out Afghanistan under 100.
He added, "Look, I don't think you can expect that this pitch is gonna spin like it did in Sharjah. And even yesterday when Kuldeep [Yadav] bowled, it didn't spin a huge amount. I think whenever you've got wrist spinners like that it doesn't really matter about the surface as much."
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