Dubai, November 7: As Scotland prepare for their swansong at the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, they also have to prepare for the challenge of taking on Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Scotland are yet to register a win in the Super 12s and they are coming up against Pakistan who qualified for the semi-finals with a game to spare.
However, captain Kyle Coetzer says his side are excited for the challenge of facing Babar and Rizwan.
“What a challenge we’re going to be faced with, an exciting one as well,” Coetzer said.
“Two players at the top of their game at the moment, so it would be great to experience that and hopefully try and knock a few of them over at the same time.
“We have to go in there respecting them but also willing to go and try and take them on, too. I think we’ve taken a few learnings from our last couple of games and some special learnings from yesterday’s game.
“We’ve got plenty left in the tank yet in this group. We had a tough experience yesterday, but I firmly believe having to go through that and go through some of these performances out here to realize how far and how much further the T20 format has developed, even since the last time we played in it.
“The conversations following the game yesterday versus India have been positive; the fact that we’re so disappointed losing the manner in which we did and the opportunities that were created to go and speak to some of the finest players in the world yesterday was a really special moment.”
Scotland were joined in their dressing room by members of the India team after their match yesterday and may hope to learn some more from Pakistan who are the only remaining unbeaten team in the tournament.
For veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, he is hoping the confidence in the Pakistan group continues through their final Group 2 match.
He said: “We’re definitely looking forward to the game tomorrow against Scotland. We want to execute our skills with lots of confidence because at the moment everyone is very confident and playing good cricket.
“We want to continue. We wanted to tick all the boxes for this game also, we will take more confidence into our own performance and into the team performance.
“We all are proud of the fact that we have played wonderful cricket so far in this tournament and everyone responded to the challenges.
“As a team, we’re very confident. We support each other, we respect each other’s talent, and we wish everyone will just go out there and do well.
“That is something very special in this team for this campaign. Yes, we’re playing good cricket, but the goal is not achieved yet.
“We as a team want to win this World Cup for the whole nation, and I think everyone is putting their effort into and looking forward to the challenge coming ahead of us.”
Courtesy: ICC
