Former skipper Javed Miandad has warned Pakistan team to be aware of underdogs teams like Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe during their matches in the Cricket World Cup 2011.Cricket minnows Canada, Kenya with Zimbabwe and Defending Australia, last championship runners-up Sri Lanka and semifinalist New Zealand are drawn in group “A”.Shahid Afridi’s team was due to meet Kenya in their opening match at Hambantota on Feb 23. “If top players perform well against minnows that doesn’t get any credit. So it was important for seniors to perform and give their best against these teams,” Javed Miandad told APP Sports Correspondent Ehsan Qureshi in an interview on Sunday. “I always use to make extra efforts to perform well against smaller teams. If you don’t perform against these unfancied teams it dents your reputation,” he pointed out. “Look at these teams. They always proved dangerous because these minnows are under no pressure,” Miandad, who played a pivotal role on Pakistan’s triumph in 1992 World Cup at Melbourne, maintained. “World Cup is a top event and whole nation is fully into it and looking at you to excel in all areas of the game,” he said. “The players must take their responsibility seriously,” he added. “There is too much talking by Pakistan team in the media.Its better that their bat and ball talk and seniors perform in the middle,” he commented. “Greats of the game doesn’t talk much but their performance with the bat and ball do the talking,” Javed Miandad, who represented Pakistan in six World Cups from 1975 to 1996, said. He said there is great responsibility on the shoulders of 15-member Pakistan squad who are picked from among the 180 millions. “There are lots of expectation from the team. So it was imperative to accomplish thing big,” veteran of 124 Test matches said. “There is great impact of victory and defeat on the nation. So it was duty of the players to patriotically give their best in such an event,” he said. |
