ADELAIDE: Pakistan team’s strong comeback at the World Cup was heartening and had also quashed all the rumours and controversies that had been spreading for the past few weeks, team manager Naveed Akram Cheema said on Wednesday.

“Registering four straight victories after losing the opening two pool games is a fantastic turnaround which shows the great fighting spirit of this Pakistan team,” Cheema said in an interview here at the Adelaide Oval during the team’s training session.

Cheema complimented the role played by Misbah-ul-Haq, his team and all the members of the coaching staff led by head coach Waqar Younis, saying “everyone is aware of Pakistani nation’s passion and love for cricket and millions of team supporters across the globe”.

While admitting that the team’s early defeats at the hands of arch-rivals India and the West Indies were a setback, Cheema said that the losses also proved an eye-opener.

“Like everyone else and the whole nation, I was also disturbed with such a situation but the way the team bounced back is remarkable,” said Cheema.

The team manager reckoned Pakistan’s quarter-final with Australia will be tough but added the team had shown in the mega event fighting qualities, and were quite capable of overpowering the hosts.

Commenting on the team spirit, Cheema said there was total harmony among the squad members — giving the example of how centurion Sarfraz Ahmed and Umar Akmal supported each other during Pakistan’s batting in the pool match against Ireland. The manager categorically dispelled the impression that he was in any way enforcing unnecessary strictness on the players.

“The players are free to enjoy themselves while following a certain code of conduct. We never imposed any unnecessary curbs on the players’ movement.”

He also disagreed with the term “curfew timings”, saying there were certain time limits for the players to return to their rooms.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2015

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