DUBAI: Saqlain Mushtaq, the Pakistan interim head coach, declared that his team have ‘the mindset of champions’ as they prepare to face Afghanistan in the Twenty20 World Cup fixture here on Friday.

The 2009 champions thumped arch-rivals India by 10 wickets in their opening match followed by a nervy five-wicket win over New Zealand, making them well placed for the semi-finals.

“We are playing with the mindset of world champions,” Saqlain told reporters on Thursday. “The two wins have given us the confidence and belief to achieve that goal.”

Saqlain replaced Misbah-ul-Haq, who resigned last month, and is bringing his experience as a spin-bowling consultant for England, Bangladesh and New Zealand in the past.

After those high-profile matches, stakes will be relatively lower when they meet Afghanistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium but Saqlain said there were no rooms for complacency.

“The boys put their heart and soul in the first two matches,” he said. “The confidence and the self-belief we got from those two matches, we have to take it forward. And if we can’t do that, it would come back to bite us.”

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But the former Test star said his team needed to be wary of a dangerous Afghanistan side.

“We know Afghanistan is a very good team but our plans are well-placed and we need to execute those plans as we have done in the first two games,” he added.

Afghanistan crushed qualifiers Scotland by 130 runs in their first Group 2 game with off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman taking 5-20 and leggie Rashid Khan 4-9.

Himself a great off-spinner who played 49 Tests and 169 One-day Intern­ationals for Pakistan, Saqlain called Afghanistan’s spinners ‘world class’.

“Rashid and Mujeeb are quality spinners and have been doing well for their team as well as in the private leagues around the world, but we have plans against them,” said Saqlain.

He praised the unity of his players, saying it has helped them achieve good results. “Our theme is ‘together we achieve’ and it’s not ‘I did well’ or ‘he did well’, but it’s ‘we did well’ sort and that has helped us gel well.”

Saqlain pointed out that Pakistan have played most of their cricket in recent years in the UAE.

“These conditions of the UAE are very familiar for our players and we have been playing home international matches and Pakistan Super League games here and that has, and will, help our players.”

Pakistan will play Namibia on Tuesday and Scotland five days later in the Super 12 stage.

But looking farther ahead, Saqlain hopes to meet India again at the World Cup — this time in the Nov 14 final in Dubai.

“If India make the final, then it would be very good for the International Cricket Council, fans around the world and for world cricket,” he said. “That will bring the two countries closer. For me, it should be a win for love and defeat for hate.”

Meanwhile, Afghanistan players are not fretting over what the future may hold for the team and are instead pre-occupied with the task of making the semi-finals, Rashid said on Thursday

“To be honest, at the moment, we don’t have anything in mind,” Rashid, Afghan cricket’s brightest star, said. “We have only this thing in the mind that we’re here for the World Cup and we’re playing five games and we need to win three games.

“No, we don’t think about what’s happening in the future. We don’t think about what happened in the past. That is something which is not in our hands, that is not in our control...

“What is in our hand is to play the five games of this group stage and try to qualify to the semi-finals and make the country proud,” Rashid said.

”...what’s going to happen in the future, that will come with time,” added the 23-year-old, one of franchise cricket’s most sought-after players. “If we have so many things on our mind, that might affect our performance, and the fans will be upset when you don’t perform as a team.”

Rashid, in the meantime, has pleaded with Afghanistan and Pakistan fans to behave after their 50-over World Cup fixture match in England two years ago was scarred by fighting and a pitch invasion.

Rashid played in that game at a packed Headingley in Leeds in 2019, but his side suffered an agonising defeat but the result was overshadowed by violence and scuffles inside and outside the stadium.

Players needed security escorts off the pitch as fans poured out of the terraces. A weekend capacity crowd is expected from amongst the huge expatriate population of both nations who live and work in the Gulf.

“Definitely it’s always a good game against Pakistan, but this should remain as a game,” Rashid said. “I request all the fans to stay cool and calm and just enjoy the game. What happened in the 2019 match should not have happened.”

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2021