Pakistan to face Australia with T20 World Cup participation hanging in limbo

Pakistan take on Australia in a three-match Twenty20 international series starting in Lahore from Thursday, despite doubts over their participation in next month’s World Cup in cricket’s shortest format.

The country’s cricket chief Mohsin Naqvi will announce a final decision on taking part in the mega event either on Friday or Monday.

Pakistan are protesting over last week’s decision by the International Cricket Council (ICC), which rejected Bangladesh’s demand to relocate their matches out of India over security fears.

Bangladesh are replaced by Scotland in the 20-team event, which runs from Feb.7 to March 8 with Sri Lanka as co-hosts.

However, despite the doubts, the Pakistan team was preparing for the World Cup with skipper Salman Agha stressing the importance of the Australia series.

“These three games will give us an idea how prepared we are for the World Cup,” Agha told a news conference on Wednesday. “Australia is a top team and will give us the best final preparations.”

“We have prepared really well for this series in the previous 10 days. There are no weak opponents in T20 cricket and our focus is on executing our plans and playing smart, quality cricket.

“Having the experienced and senior players in the group is vital, it makes a big difference when you are trying to win a series.”

Mitchell Marsh, Australia captain said: “I’m really excited to be here as this series is ideal preparation of the World Cup. Pakistan have a great tradition of fast bowling and I’m looking forward to facing Shaheen Shah Afridi.

“Winning away from home is always tough, especially in these conditions, but that’s exactly what makes it a great challenge for us.”

Pakistan are placed in Group A alongside defending world champions India, the United States, Namibia and the Netherlands.

Pakistan’s spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi returns to full fitness after injuring his knee in the Big Bash League in Australia this month.

“We need to see how many boxes we tick in the series which are important for the World Cup as we aim to do well and win the Cup,” Agha said.

A 17-member Australian squad led by Mitchell Marsh arrived in Lahore early on Wednesday, with the last two matches set for Jan.31 and Feb.1.

The Australians are without the injured quartet of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David and Nathan Ellis, while allrounder Glenn Maxwell was rested to manage workload.

Marsh still believes Australia were ready for the World Cup tune-up series.

“These are very important times in both teams’ preparations for the World Cup,” said Marsh, whose team will be in Group B with Sri Lanka, Oman, Ireland and Zimbabwe.

“This is a very important series as the conditions are similar and that is against a quality side, so we will assess the situation and be clear about our plans ahead.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan will fly out to Colombo on Monday by when the country’s cricket chief will have announced team’s participation in the Twenty20 World Cup, said a report

“Despite the uncertainty over the participation on the World Cup, Pakistan team is booked with Australia team to fly out to Colombo via Air Lanka flight from Lahore,” sources told Telecom Asia Sport (www.telecomasia.net).

“We hope that by Friday the PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi will have cleared the team’s participation in the mega event.”

Naqvi threw Pakistan team’s participation in the Feb.7- March 8 Twenty20 World Cup in doubt in protest over Bangladesh’s expulsion from the event.

The International Cricket Council had rejected Bangladesh Cricket Board’s request to move their matches from India to Sri Lanka over security fears.

On Monday, Naqvi met Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif in Islamabad to get his advice on sending the team or not.

Sources told Telecomasia.net that PM Sharif backed PCB’s stance to support Bangladesh but advised them to not boycott the World Cup to avoid any financial implications.

“Naqvi also took advice from President Asif Zardari and from military establishment before meeting two former PCB chairmen Najam Sethi and Ramiz Raja who were also in support of sending the team to Sri Lanka.

“They have also advices not to boycott the India game,” the report quoted sources as telling www.telecomasia.net.

“All the players have been told that they must remain in positive mood as far as participation in the World Cup is concerned. Some of the players from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa habe brought all their luggage from home keeping in mind that they will be out of the country for more than a month.”

Agencies