By CricketCountry Staff
After leveling the T20 series against Pakistan, England captain Stuart Broad is optimistic about his side beating the hosts in the third and final T20 at Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Published: Feb 27, 2012, 02:08 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 27, 2012, 02:08 PM (IST)
England beat Pakistan in the second Twenty20 on Saturday to level the series 1-1 © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
Abu Dhabi: Feb 27, 2012
After leveling the T20 series against Pakistan, England captain Stuart Broad is optimistic about his side beating the hosts in the third and final T20 at Abu Dhabi on Monday.
England travel to Sri Lanka to defend their World Twenty20 title later this year, which means the defending champions will have very few opportunities till September and the skipper wants to make the most of it.
Broad regards Monday’s T20 encounter against Pakistan as a valuable chance to see how his young side react to pressure, likening it to a World Cup knock out situation.
“We obviously don’t have a huge amount of cricket before the next World Cup, and we have to use every game leading towards that,” Broad told TheNational.
“More importantly, we have to win this series over here. We can learn along the way, but [Monday night] is a huge game for us.
“The pressure will be like a World Cup scenario because it is a must-win game. We want to go home with a trophy.”
On the other hand, a one-day series whitewash and a T20 defeat have brought back criticism in Pakistan cricket. Misbah-ul-Haq claims to be victimised by the media, whereas coach Mohsin Khan will soon be replaced by Dav Whatmore.
In such a critical situation, it is not surprising to see Pakistan on the back foot in their defeat on Saturday night.
“I think this is a good team, but the batting is not playing to its potential,” Misbah said. “We have carried on the bad form from the one-day series.
“If you want to win one-day and Twenty20 cricket, I think it is batting which wins you games. We want to end the tour positively.”
