T20 Cricket News

Mohammad Asif, the Pakistan fast bowler, is confident that his side will successfully defend their title during the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies.

"I only know that Pakistan are favourites and we will win the World Cup" Asif told PakPassion.net. "The training camp has been very good preparation for all of the boys. Yes it's been hard work, but I believe it will definitely help ahead of the World Cup in the West Indies. The preparation for such an important tournament has to be spot on."

The fast bowler was full of praise for Waqar Younis, the side's bowling coach. "Waqar has been very helpful with his thoughts on my bowling. He analyses the art of bowling very well and has constantly provided me with feedback, advice and support. We have worked together on some new things, a few variations here and there, and they have worked out very well.

"The camp has provided me with an opportunity to once again work with one of Pakistan's greatest ever cricketers. We had already worked together on the tours of New Zealand and Australia and we have continued in Lahore the work that we put in on those tours. Waqar hasn't spotted any major technical flaws in my bowling, but as I said, we have worked on some minor adjustments and new ideas here and there," Asif said.

The bowler revealed his game-plan in the shortest format involved being one step ahead of the batsman. "Twenty20 cricket is totally different from the other versions of the game and as a bowler I believe you have to try and out-think the batsman. My objective is to outsmart the batsman, try and be one step ahead of your opponent. This form of the game is mentally very tough as a bowler and I always try to dodge the batsman," he said.

Asif said he was ready to take on different responsibilities with the ball, depending on the requirement. "I am prepared to bowl whenever the captain or the team needs me to. In twenty-over cricket you know the batting side is looking to attack you continuously. If the team needs me to bowl four overs at the start, I am happy to do that, if they want me to bowl some of my spell at the start and then come back later in the innings, I am more than happy to do that for my team and skipper.

"What I do look to do is to try and get an early breakthrough for my team, as I feel that if you get early wickets you put the opposition onto the back foot. They have to reassess their strategy and the new batsmen will have to come in and will realise that they have already lost one or two top order batsmen," he said.

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