Inzamam upbeat for Pakistan

Inzamam-ul-Haq marshals his troops © Getty Images

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq will get a chance to test his watered-down bowling attack against Canada as the teams meet in a World Cup warm-up match in St Augustine on Tuesday.

Inzamam lost three of his top players, fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq on the eve of the tournament.

“It will be tough to win the title without them,” the skipper said.

“Our chances have been considerably decreased but that doesn’t mean that we should drop our shoulders.”

Both Shoaib and Asif were banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board after testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, only for the decision to be overturned on appeal. They were originally included in the World Cup squad but pulled out because of injuries.

In addition, Razzaq is out with a knee injury.

“Their absence is definitely a blow to our chances,” Inzamam added.

“But it will be a good opportunity for some of the unproven players to set themselves for a big tournament.

“We don’t expect Canada to be too difficult but this is the World Cup and strange things can happen.

“We will be taking this match quite seriously because we know that the consequences of underestimating even the weaker teams can be unfortunate.”

The Canadians, who are competing in their third World Cup but have failed to go past the first round, will be hoping to raise their game against the 1992 champions.

“We will be going hard against them,” former West Indies fast bowler Anderson Cummins noted.

Cummins who played five Test matches and 65 one-day internationals for the West Indies before migrating to Canada, is one of the most experienced players in the team.

He expressed the view that a good, competitive showing can be the foundation for Canada’s bid to go past the first round for the first time.

“We recognise that playing to our potential can get us a place in the second round. It can be a signal to the other teams in our group and therefore we will be going out against Pakistan, who we are fully aware is a very inconsistent team.”

Canada are drawn in Group C with England, Kenya and New Zealand while Pakistan are drawn in Group D with the host West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe.