The Pakistanis conquered the Black Caps in their own
backyard in a six-match One-day International series 3-2 and are brimming with
confidence as they prepared in Kandy for Tuesday's match against New Zealand.
Team officials believe that with the conditions in Sri
Lanka favouring them, Pakistan have solid chances of maintaining their unbeaten
spree in the tournament.
"The fact that we beat them (New Zealand) in New
Zealand in the ODI series last month certainly gives us a lot of confidence
going into our next match," Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan manager told Arab
News on Saturday.
"The conditions there suited New Zealand but it
should be different here. We are more familiar with the conditions here and
will try our best to make the most of it. We have the upper hand because the
conditions here are like what we have back home in Pakistan," he added.
Pakistan have won all their three previous World Cup
matches and will try to go for another win in a bid to secure their place for
the last-eight stage and stay on the top of Pool A. A win in Tuesday's match
will confirm Pakistan's place in the quarterfinals.
After giving themselves a day off on Friday, Pakistan
were back in training at the picturesque Asgiriya Stadium, located in the heart
of Sri Lanka's rolling hill-country, Saturday morning.
They had a longish stay in the nets for some batting and
bowling practice and then the players were seen working hard during a fielding
training session.
"Fielding is the one area where we need a lot of
hard work," said Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain. "Because no
matter what we do with the bat or ball if we don't field well and take our
catches then it would be tough for us to keep winning," he stressed.
Intikhab, a former Pakistan captain, was confident that
his players will raise their game as they meet New Zealand and perhaps more
importantly Australia later this month. "The team is improving and I'm
hopeful that it will do well in the big matches too," he said.
New Zealand, meanwhile, are in a positive frame of my
mind after crushing Zimbabwe in what was the first ODI meeting between the two
sides in five years.
Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, was confident
that his team will maintain its good show in the match against Pakistan.
"We're after that sort of performance where two guys
take responsibility for the win, and that's what we've got to do in these big
games coming up against Sri Lanka and Pakistan," said Vettori.
