Mohammad Hafeez said that the 2-1 triumph in a Twenty20 series against Australia recently in Dubai had lent belief to the Pakistan team that it could prevail over Australia in the ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights clash on Tuesday.
After defeating Australia, the Pakistan captain said: “We had a long discussion two days back and that victory in Dubai gave us a lot of confidence. We knew that when the ball turns, it becomes difficult to score off the spinners and were aware that nearly 70 per cent of Australia’s runs in this tournament were scored by Shane Watson, David Warner and Michael Hussey. We knew that if we get them out early, we had a chance.”
Bailey brought up the ‘law of averages’ while discussing Australia’s first defeat in this edition.
“If you look, all teams have had that one bad game and I guess it happened to us. There is no embarrassment in getting through to the semifinal by scoring more than 112.
“Yes it is no secret that there are a few shortcomings while playing spin but we have done reasonably well against them (Pakistan spinners) in our recent games,” the Australian skipper said.