Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez today said that his team has a good mixture of fast and spin bowlers who can pose problems to the Indian batsmen in the five-match limited over series, starting with the Twenty20 encounter in Bangalore tomorrow.
“Indian batting is well known all over the world for being extremely good. But winning or losing does not depend only on batting, as bowling also plays a major role. Our team has good batting and bowling. So, our bowlers can negotiate the strong Indian batting line-up,” Hafeez told reporters at the pre-match press conference.
Hafeez said the team has prepared well for the series and is looking forward to the match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “We are very much ready and looking for positive results for our country,” he said.
Hafeez said the selectors wanted to give opportunities to youngsters who have done well in the last couple of years at the domestic level. He said: “It will be a good experience for them in India because the crowds are always good. So the pressure is always there to perform, but one has to handle it. Our team is a mixture of experience and youth. We have Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal.”
On Afridi’s poor run with the bat, Hafeez said there is no doubt that in the recent past he has not done well, but is still a match winner and added that Sayeed Ajmal is bowling very well at the moment and getting the results for Pakistan. “We want him to stay at his peak and don’t want to put too much pressure on him. At the same time, other bowlers also have take wickets to give confidence to him,” he said.