Agency, Brisbane :Talk of 1992, and cornered tigers, is starting to grate with Misbah-ul-Haq and with good reason, given the resources at his disposal. But when it comes to ground realities, Misbah’s team find themselves pretty much where Imran Khan’s side were when they took on Australia in Perth all those years ago. Lose against Zimbabwe on Sunday (March 1), with games against South Africa and Ireland still to come, and a quarter-final spot could be as out of reach as a good-luck card for Misbah from Shoaib Akhtar.The criticism back home, from the likes of Shoaib and others, has been vicious, and Misbah frequently seemed to be staring into space at the pre-match press conference on Saturday. The calm mask slipped only when he spoke of how hard it had been to keep spirits up after the reaction to the defeats against India and West Indies.”We used to say that we are with the team all the time, but we never do it,” said Misbah. “You could say it’s always like that in Pakistan. We are always with the winning team, but when our team is in difficult times, we’re nowhere. But the real supporters, they are there. They’ve got belief in the team, still supporting the team, so that’s what we need.”I think as the management, as senior players, as a captain, it is our duty here to just really motivate the youngsters to keep doing good things and just be focused. If you’re positive, you have that belief. That is the only way to come out of these difficult times. That’s what we are trying to do. We’re working hard. We are working on the mental aspects also. So let’s see how it goes.”Pakistan are almost certain to make two changes to the XI that lost to West Indies. On a lightly grassed and bouncy Gabba pitch, Yasir Shah, the legspinner, will surely play against opponents that have traditionally struggled against quality wrist spin. Sarfraz Ahmed should also be restored to the top of the order now that it’s become clear that the Younis Khan experiment hasn’t worked. Apart from Younis, the other man to sit out could be Nasir Jamshed, whose outing against West Indies was summed up by one horribly miscued pull.Zimbabwe have batted with great assurance in all their outings, but been held back by atrocious slog-overs bowling. They will need to be especially wary against a Pakistan side that tends to start slowly before building to a late-innings onslaught. In Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi, they have two individuals perfectly equipped to take advantage of Zimbabwe’s old-ball frailty.The pitch should be an excellent one for batting, though it’s also likely to quicken up under lights. Despite Ireland pulling off a nail-biting win while chasing against United Arab Emirates, the blueprint for success could well be to bat first and put anything in excess of 260 on the board.For Zimbabwe, the secret weapon could be familiarity. After all, Dav Whatmore, their coach, was in charge of Pakistan for two years before taking on this assignment.
