Pakistan hold emergency meeting to ignite Cricket World Cup campaign

Sport360 staff 20:25 23/02/2015
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  • Pakistan have lost both of their first two games by big margins.

    The mood in the Pakistan camp is somber one after back to back defeats in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup at the hands of great rivals India and West Indies, but the team management tried to lift the players with a motivational meeting in Brisbane today.

    – Dubai Sports City's ICC Academy broadcasts #CWC15 live

    Head coach Waqar Younis decided to give players an extra day off so that they can get their act together and cancelled the scheduled training on Monday.

    Pakistan cannot afford another expensive defeat as they languish bottom of Pool A with a Net Run-Rate (NRR) of -2.260. Out of the all 14 participants, only Scotland has a worse NRR than Pakistan.

    According to PCB media head Agha Akbar, who attended the meeting, it turned out to be an inspired decision to meet players through a crisis meeting so that views can be shared by both players and management.

    “The day off from training look to have been an inspiration decision because when the meeting convened, the atmosphere looked slightly relaxed,” Akbar explained.

    “Team manager Naveed Akram Cheema began with a rather wholesome pep talk before opening the floor, encouraging everyone to speak his own mind frankly.

    "He also communicated PCB Chairman Shaharyar Mohammad Khan’s message that the Chairman and the Board was absolutely behind the team, no matter what, and the latter only wanted the team to shake off negativity and go out there and perform without any pressure whatsoever.”

    Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq also spoke to players about dealing with adverse situation.

    “We have been unlucky, but look at South Africa, look at England. India beat the favourites South Africa far more convincingly than us – the two sides that were more familiar with the conditions than us,” Misbah told his players.

    “We need our luck to turn, the rub of the green to come our way. Our luck would change, but for it to materialize we would have to concentrate on the next game and approach it with energy, optimism and sense of responsibility.”

    Waqar Younis took a pledge from the squad that each would give their unrelentingly all to the team’s cause.

    “We have to go in there with intent, foster a sense of togetherness; whatever fine-tuning we need to do, we shall in the next few days,” Waqar remarked.

    Spin coach Mushtaq Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Sohaib Maqsood and Yasir Shah also shared their thoughts.

    By the time the hour-long session ended, Pakistan seemed to be mentally ready to conquer its demons, according to Akbar.

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