Pakistan start firm favourites in Wednesday’s quarter-final against Darren Sammy’s men at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium after topping Group A with five wins in six matches.
One of those wins broke Australia’s unbeaten streak of 34 World Cup matches over a 12-year period after the three-time defending champions went down by four wickets in Colombo on Saturday.
A win over the West Indies could bring Afridi’s men a mouth-watering semi-final against arch-rivals India, if the co-hosts beat Australia in Thursday’s quarter-final in Ahmedabad.
“Our entire focus is on winning the quarter-final, I am not even thinking of the next match, whether it is India or Australia,” Afridi told a packed news conference.
“We will not take the West Indies lightly. Any team is capable of winning on their day, there are no second chances in a knock-out match. I think they are a very good side.”
The West Indies collapsed from winning positions against England and India, and only qualified for the quarter-finals on superior run-rate after ending the league level with Bangladesh on six points.
The impressive run by Afridi’s team would have delighted their volatile nation, which has been stripped of big-time cricket at home due to security concerns and tainted by an unsavoury spot-fixing scandal.
The absence of former captain Salman Butt and pace spearheads Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif due to the controversy was not felt as the team has rallied superbly under their inspirational captain.
All-rounder Afridi is the tournament’s leading bowler with 17 wickets with his fastish leg-breaks, while seamer Umar Gul has kept the pressure on at the other end with 13 wickets.
Afridi may have failed with the bat so far with just 65 runs in six games, but young guns Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq have shone brightly in their first World Cup.
Akmal has scored 211 runs at 52.75 and Shafiq averages 124 in the two games he has played so far, while seasoned seniors like Misbah-ul Haq and Younis Khan have lent solidity to the middle-order.
“Our success so far has been entirely due to the bowlers, who have done a very good job,” said Afridi. “I myself have not batted well and will focus on that tomorrow.
“I know how important my batting is for the team and I will try to get some runs on the board.”
Afridi played down suggestions that the West Indies will be hard to beat at a venue where they shot out Bangladesh for their lowest one-day total of 58 in the league to romp home by nine wickets.
“That was Bangladesh, this is Pakistan,” the captain said.
“It’s not that we are playing for the first time in these conditions. We feel at home anywhere in the sub-continent.”
Afridi said he had never seen Pakistan work so hard at their cricket, which has been rewarded by the good results so far.
“I have played for 14 years and never seen the team train so seriously and focus on their game,” he said.
“The entire team is together in the dream to do well in the World Cup.
“Our aim at the start was to make the semi-finals and I am confident we can achieve that.
Pakistan upstaged Australia by four wickets to end the defending champions’
unbeaten 34-match streak in the World Cup stretching back to 1999.
It also meant Pakistan finished top of Group A and gave them a quarter-final clash against the West Indies in Dhaka on Wednesday while Australia tackle India in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
“We knew that beating Australia would be very important for us and this win has enhanced our image, sending a good signal to the cricket world that we can win despite our difficult situation,” Afridi told AFP.
Pakistan entered the tournament on the back of a spot-fixing scandal which led to lengthy bans on former Test captain Salman Butt and pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.
The three men are also facing criminal proceedings in the United Kingdom.
Pakistan has also been a no-go area for international teams since the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore two years ago.
Those attacks, which killed eight people and injured seven Sri Lankan players and their asistant coach, forced the International Cricket Council to strip Pakistan of its 2011 World Cup co-hosting rights.
Afridi said Pakistan still has a deep well of natural cricketing talent.
“Despite all the problems Pakistan is blessed with talent and it’s because of this talent that we are a dangerous team and can win against anyone. We now hope to carry on the momentum,” said Afridi.
The Pakistan captain disagreed that the West Indies, who squeezed into the last eight on run-rate, will be easier opponents.
“They have qualified for the quarter-finals after some good play, so we have to do well in all three departments because it’s a knockout stage from here,” said Afridi, the leading wicket-taker with 17 in six matches so far.
Afridi said he was not thinking of a potentially high-voltage semi-final clash against India if the two Asian rivals come through their last-eight tests.
“Our focus is on the quarter-final, we have to win that to reach the semi-final, so we are not thinking that far. First we have to win a must-win match against a dangerous opponent,” said Afridi.
The winners of the first two quarter-finals meet in the second semi-final at Mohail on March 30.
South Africa play New Zealand on March 25 (Dhaka) and Sri Lanka face England (Colombo) in the last quarter-final a day later — with the winners to play the first semi-final in Colombo on March 29.
Gul took 3-30 to help Pakistan dismiss Australia for 176 — their lowest World Cup total since 1992 — before Umar Akmal hit an unbeaten 44 to steer Pakistan to victory in 41 overs, finishing top of the pool with 10 points.
Pakistan, champions in 1992, will play the fourth placed team in Group B, while Australia (nine points) finished third behind Sri Lanka (nine points) on run-rate and will play the second placed team from Group B.
Saturday’s loss was Australia’s first in the World Cup since losing to Pakistan by 10 runs in Leeds in 1999.
But the champions, led by spearhead Brett Lee (4-28), fought hard and twice raised hopes of an unlikely win.
Pakistan were cruising along on 98-2 before Lee derailed the chase in his first over of his second spell, dismissing Younis Khan (31) and Misbah-ul-Haq for a first-ball duck — both caught by keeper Brad Haddin.
Mitchell Johnson removed Asad Shafiq (46) while Jason Krejza tempted skipper Shahid Afridi (two) to hole out in the deep, but Umar and Abdul Razzaq (20 not out) saw their team home with a cautious 36-run stand for the seventh wicket.
Razzaq hit two boundaries off spinner Jason Krejza to complete the victory.
Lee had taken two wickets in his first spell, taking a smart catch off his own bowling to dismiss opener Mohammad Hafeez (five) before trapping Kamran Akmal lbw for 23.
Shafiq, who hit five boundaries during his 81-ball knock, added 53 with Younis and 41 with Umar to keep Pakistan on track.
Earlier, Gul and Razzaq (2-8) exposed the untested Australian batting after Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bat on a seemingly flat R. Premadasa stadium pitch.
Haddin (42), Michael Clarke (34) and Steve Smith (25) offered some resistance as Pakistan applied relentless pressure to take the last seven Australian wickets for a mere 59 runs after they were 117-3.
Pakistan, who opened the attack with left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman from one end, forced an early breakthrough when Gul bowled opener Shane Watson with a sharp incoming delivery for nine.
Haddin added 63 for the second wicket with Ponting (19) before Pakistan struck twice, with Hafeez removing the Australian skipper off a miscued cut, caught by wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal.
Umpire Marais Erasmus of South Africa turned down a vociferous appeal before Pakistan successfully overturned the verdict on review to leave Australia 75-2.
Left-arm paceman Wahab Riaz then had Haddin caught behind by Kamran in the 24th over. Haddin hit three boundaries and a six during his 80-ball knock.
Pakistan then took four crucial wickets in the space of just 30 runs to reduce the Australians to 147-7, including wickets of Clarke and Michael Hussey for 12.
Gul removed Krejza and Lee cheaply to wrap the Australian innings for their sixth lowest World Cup total.
Teams:
Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krejza, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait.
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (capt), Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz.
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL) and Marais Erasmus (RSA)
Tv umpire: Tyron Wijewardena (SRI)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)
Pitch conditions: A slow pitch which looks brown and is likely to help spinners, but the turn will not be vicious.
"I have never said anything along the lines that we don't want to go to India. I never said that," said Afridi, hitting back at media reports that Pakistan wants to avoid playing their last-eight game in India.
"We are here to play the World Cup, so wherever we have to play we will go and we have no fears over going to India," said Afridi of the possibility of a mouth-watering quarter-final against their South Asian rivals at Ahmedabad.
"I think a cricket match has always brought the people of both countries together and has the capacity to improve the relations between the two," said Afridi.
The relationship between the nuclear rivals has been at breaking point since the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in 2008, which New Delhi blamed on extremists based in Pakistan.
Those attacks also forced India to stall bi-lateral cricket series with Pakistan, although both countries played against each other in the Champions Trophy in South Africa in 2009.
Afridi said he and his team-mates have always enjoyed playing cricket in India.
"I have always enjoyed cricket in India, never enjoyed anywhere more than in India, I get maximum enjoyment there," said Afridi, whose first Test century came at Chennai in 1999.
He also hit one-day cricket's fourth fastest century off just 45 balls, against India at Kanpur in 2005.
Pakistan have eight points from their five matches and could top Group A if they beat defending champions Australia in their last match on Saturday.
Afridi says his team fear no opposition.
"The kind of cricket we are playing we fear no venue and no opposition, so India in India, and Australia in the last group match are no problems," said Afridi, who played down threats from extremists groups in India.
"What ever is the response, we will get to know it when we go there because we will be going there after a long time," said Afridi.
"We have played in India in worse situations," added Afridi, referring to Pakistan's tour in 1999 where Hindu militants dug up the pitch in New Delhi.
"For both teams, the pressure is always there and whoever handles the pressure wins the match. But before that we have an important match against Australia and I think we have the capacity to beat them," said Afridi.
Champions Australia, who have already qualified for the quarter-finals, are seeking to extend their unbeaten World Cup streak to 34 matches, kept the same team that defeated Kenya on Sunday.
Canada are playing their last match in the tournament and have won only one of their five matches, against fellow associates, Kenya.
They made two changes to the side that lost to New Zealand, bringing in Nitish Kumar and Karl Whatham in place of Khurram Chohan and Ruvindu Gunasekera.
Teams:
Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Cameron White, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Jason Krejza.
Canada: Ashish Bagai (captain), Nitish Kumar, Zubin Surkari, Jimmy Hansra, Rizwan Cheema, John Davison, Hiral Patel, Harvir Baidwan, Karl Whatham, Balaji Rao, Henry Osinde.
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