Malik: There are advantages of being an underdog

"Let us talk about the 1992 World Cup. We won that when no one expected us to be there. Something same happened in 2007. Yes, we lost to India in final then but won the title in 2009. We are in a similar situation here in this World Cup."

Shoaib Malik has been playing for the Pakistan national cricket team since 1999.

Pakistan has a record of picking itself up from hopeless situations and win tournaments when everyone else in the world had overlooked it as a contender, says batsman >Shoaib Malik .

“Let us talk about the 1992 World Cup. We won that when no one expected us to be there. Something same happened in 2007. Yes, we lost to India in final then but won the title in 2009. We are in a similar situation here in this World Cup,” Malik said.

“It is good that we are underdogs here. That will give us the confidence for what we are here to do,” he added while taking questions during session with the media here on Sunday.

Malik said the team should not be looked at in the light of its performance in the Asia Cup, from where it exited in the league stage. “We could not do what we were expecting in the Asia Cup. There we could not deliver, that is a part of life of a professional player. This (ICC World T20) is a new tournament and we will try to get the best out of each other here,” Malik, a senior in the team, said.

Malik said the current lack of form is more because of the dearth of competitive T20 experience for Pakistani cricketers and hoped the Pakistan Super League will turn the tide soon. “Now that the PSL has started, it will hopefully take us to the level where the rest of the world is. If you look at players like Rohit (Sharma), (AB) de Villiers, (Suresh) Raina, (Virat) Kohli they have improved a lot since they started playing the IPL,” Malik said.

Wahab Riaz, the expressive left-arm pacer, said that the current bowling attack of Pakistan is one of the best in the world. “Previously we had Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul. Right now we have a very good fast bowling attack, where everyone is bowling 140 (kms) plus. Mohammad Amir and (Mohammad) Sami can swing the ball really well making it a really good attack,” Riaz said.