Canada’s captain Saad Bin Zafar is determined to put struggling Pakistan under pressure in their upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 clash, scheduled at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York today.
Canada, third in Group A standings of the T20 World Cup 2024, have two points after two matches as they recovered from a thumping defeat against the United States of America (USA) in the curtain raiser to register a shocking defeat over Ireland.
On the contrary, Pakistan had a disastrous start to their campaign as the former champions succumbed to an upset loss against the USA in the campaign opener before falling to a six-run defeat against arch-rivals India in a blockbuster clash on Sunday.
The back-to-back defeats put Pakistan on the verge of an early exit from the T20 World Cup 2024 and they now need to beat Canada to stay alive.
Meanwhile, Canada’s captain Saad Bin Zafar shared that the players are in good mood following his team’s historic victory over Ireland.
“Everybody’s in a positive mood. Our last game went really well,” said Saad as quoted by The Canadian Press. “It instilled a belief in us that if we play good cricket on the day, we can take down any opponent.”
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Saad acknowledged Pakistan as an experienced but highlighted the team’s recent shortcomings. He further shared his plans to put the Green Shirts under pressure as “anything is possible”.
“I know that we are coming up against quite a high-ranked and well-experienced team in Pakistan but the reality is lately they haven’t been playing the good brand of cricket that they’re known for,” stated Saad.
“They are under the pump. They have lost two games. So, if we’re able to play good cricket on the day and we’re able to put some good pressure early on in the game, anything is possible,” he concluded.
Pakistan squad for T20 World Cup 2024:
Babar Azam (c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.
Canada squad for T20 World Cup 2024:
Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Dillon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Harsh Thaker, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan and Shreyas Movva.
Reserves: Tajinder Singh, Aaditya Varadharajan, Ammar Khalid, Jatinder Matharu and Parveen Kumar.
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