'Whoever comes, we are ready' - Mohammad Hafeez says Pakistan ready for any opponent in semi-final

Pakistan have played some fantastic cricket in the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE. They have won all the four matches so far and also sealed their place in the semi-final. They are set to face Scotland on November 7 (Sunday) in their last Super 12 encounter. As far as the semi-final is concerned, the Men in Green will face the second placed team from the other group.

Australia and South Africa are fighting for the second spot with England almost confirming their top spot. Rather Temba Bavuma’s men are up against it tasked with beating England by a margin of more than 60 runs to pip Australia in terms of NRR. When asked which opponent Pakistan will favour in the semi-final, all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez was pretty straightforward with his response.

He said that the team is ready to face anyone and is not thinking much about their opposition in the knockouts at the moment. Hafeez also went on to say that Pakistan are performing well and the players are high on confidence at the moment.

“To be honest, when it comes to a cricket match we don’t think about who we want to play. Whoever comes we are ready for that as our confidence is high, we are shaping up well and we are performing well.But first we have a game against Scotland so we need to take them on with the same intensity and confidence. The goal is to win the Cup for the nation and we are close to that,” he said during the pre-match press conference.

Our confidence lifted after beating India, says Hafeez

Pakistan came into the T20 World Cup with not much international cricket behind them. New Zealand and England cancelled their tours to the country and the PCB was forced to prepone the National T20 Cup, the domestic tournament, so that the World Cup bound players get much needed practice. Pointing out at the same, Mohammad Hafeez stated that the start to the tournament is always important and their win against India gave them the much needed confidence.

“In any tournament when you win the first match, it gives you confidence so when we beat India it lifted our confidence hugely. I have been part of many World Cup matches against India and after all those defeats we had to bear the consequences but we always used to have strong comebacks. This time we won and it was great to be part of that team which beat India,” the all-rounder added.