Pakistan’s all-rounder Imad Wasim has hailed his side to put up an all-round performance in the second One-Day International at the MCG against Australia, and expressed that they could do better than its current International Cricket Council’s (ICC) number eight ranking. He further suggested the team can beat any opponent in the limited-overs cricket.
The 28-year-old Imad, who has been economical in the ODI series Down Under, has picked four wickets so far in two games. He is behind Australia’s all-rounder James Faulkner, who has picked six wickets and his teammate and fast bowler Mohammad Amir, who has claimed five.
“I personally believed before coming to this tour that we could beat any team in the world in shorter formats, because our team combination is very good,” Imad was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Pakistan would try hard to improve their points in table rankings further to make direct qualification for the 2019 ODI World Cup.
Pakistan is currently below Bangladesh in the rankings which shows how things have gone ugly for the Green Shirts in the recent past.
“Number eight in the world [ODIs], but our side is better than that,” Imad said.
Imad has also lauded the bowling performances which included fast bowlers and spinners. He termed the Australian wicket ‘good for batting’ after making Kangaroos to work hard to put runs on the scoreboard.
“It’s hard work. You have to bowl in good areas and I think to be honest, we bowled really well,” Imad remarked.
On the other side, the 68-year-old team manager Wasim Bari has stated that Azhar Ali will miss the third ODI, which is scheduled at WACA on January 19.
Imad stressed that the motive is to perform and achieve some results for the national side.
“If you don’t believe that you can beat any opposition, there’s no point coming here. We are here to beat them [Australia], we are here to play good cricket and we are here to fight,” he said.
While praising the Australian duo Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, Imad also feels the hosts are ready to come up with best in the business line-up – to give tough time to visitors in the remaining games.
“Mitchell Starc is a world-class bowler and Mitchell Marsh is a great all-rounder. He’s [Marsh] been a match-winner for Australia and Starc as we all know, he’s the best bowler in the world in all the formats. I think they’re going to come hard at us and we’re ready for it,” Imad concluded.
Imad has played 16 ODIs for Pakistan in which he has scored 298 runs which includes 3 fifties. After making the debut against Sri Lanka in 2015, he has bagged 23 wickets at an average of 24.43.