T20 World Cup: Firm on not playing India, each game becomes a must-win for Pakistan

The unquiet ones have done all the talking of late, but it has largely been off the field. Now, it’s time for Pakistan to get their act right, in the middle. Not many teams have ever put themselves under as much pressure as the 2009 T20 World Cup champions have done before this edition of the tournament.

Till now, they have stuck to their decision of not playing India in their group match on Feb 15. That has left them in a mustwin situation in every group game, which starts with the Netherlands at the SSC on Saturday. Such is the situation that even a washout can spell doom for Pakistan.There are some rain threats in Colombo on Saturday and the last thing Salman Agha’s boys will want is the game being curtailed or washed out.

“Weather is not in our control, so we do not talk about it. We only think about how to win the three matches that we have,” Agha said, ahead of a practice session on Friday.

As much as Pakistan try to keep the discussion around this game, there was no running away from the recent Indo-Pak relations on and off the field that has shaken world cricket. “More than cricket we are being asked about other things, which I think is not a good thing.

We are after all sportsmen and we come to talk and play cricket ... We try not to let these affect us because it is better to avoid such things for yourself and for the game,” Agha reasoned.However, the scars of an extremely hostile Asia Cup that took place in the UAE in Sept last year haven’t healed. Queries about the non-handshake of the India and Pakistan teams and all that fol -lowed did keep cropping up dur -ing the course of the conversation and Agha felt things shouldn’t have panned out that way.

“We don’t really feel hurt, but it’s not good for the game. Growing up as a kid, I have always seen people doing what is required for the game to be improved.

We too are role models and if we don’t do that, kids are going to pick up the wrong things,” Agha said.Back to Pakistan’s prepara -tions for the World Cup, the skipper stressed that they haven’t lost a series in the last six months, having won most of their games. The team, though, still has its problems in trying to fit in seniors like Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, who haven’t fired T20Is of late.

“We have come here as a team of 15 and we will try to play the best combination. If that means that a senior player like Fakhar or Babar, who have done great things over 10 years, does not fit, then we will not play him.

We will play with the best team,” the captain added.There’s an ace up Pakistan’s sleeve in the form of off-spinner Usman Tariq, who is a slinger. Australia found it very difficult to deal with him and there were talks about the legality of his action. Agha was prompt to shut it down, saying: “I don’t understand why we are talking about his action. In my opinion, it is a fair action and has been tested twice.”