CricketViewer.com

Pakistan are ready to play the best combination against Scotland today in a bid to make early impression in their opening match of the Twenty20 World Cup.

“We have decided to play the best combination in the match as we are in no mood to leave loopholes. Our best players will play in the match,” an official of the team told The News.

Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Yasir Arafat are likely to spearhead the bowling attack. Rao Iftikhar, Abdul Rehman and Fawad Alam are expected to miss the match against Scotland.

He said that Pakistan have a good opening pair in Salman Butt and Imran Nazir. “It is important to get a good start and our openers have been performing well in recent matches. We have decided to retain them.”

Pakistan are also planning to include in Mohammad Hafeez in the line-up. “Hafeez is a good utility bowler and hopefully would prove an asset for the team in this shorter version of the game,” he said.

However, he said that the final playing XI will be selected at a meeting early this morning.

The match against Scotland would be the third official twenty20 match for the Pakistanis. They won against England but lost to South Africa previously.

Pakistan team (likely): Shoaib Malik (captain), Mohammad Asif, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Misbahul Haq.

Source:Cricket News