‘We are not scared of Irfan’

NAPIER, New Zealand: The sight of Mohammad Irfan extracting tennis ball bounce at Gabba against Zimbabwe last Sunday must have sent shivers down the spines of many a World Cup batters.
But UAE’s Ajmad Javed announced on Tuesday that his batsmen “weren’t scared” as they prepared to face the giant left-armer in a World Cup Pool B game here at McLean Park on Sunday (today).
“We are not scared (of Irfan),” the experienced all-rounder told reporters here t the McLean Park ahead of today’s game. “We are all well-prepared and are still preparing. Our batting coach Mudassar Nazar is working hard on the batsmen and I’m confident we will do well,” said Ajmad, who has played six ODIs for UAE. Amjad said that his team’s confidence stems from the fact that Irfan is not an unknown commodity as UAE have faced the pacer before.
“It is not that we haven’t faced Irfan as we have played him in domestic matches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” he said.
But Amjad’s voice lacked conviction.
He must be fully aware of the sort of damage that Irfan can inflict on UAE especially if the conditions are favourable.
Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, is confident that Irfan will continue from where he left in Brisbane.
Irfan might not have produced spectacular performances in the first two games against India (0-58) and West Indies (1-44) but Misbah is of the view that he has been bowling exceptionally right from the start of the World Cup.
“I think he (Irfan) has been bowling exceptionally well,” Misbah said when asked whether Irfan will continue to bowl the way he did at Gabba last Sunday.
“But in the first two games the opposition decided to see off Irfan’s overs considering that after the first 10-15 overs he doesn’t until the end of the 30th or 40th overs. But in the last game against Zimbabwe we played four frontline bowlers and the opposition knew that they had to score some runs even off Irfan. With three more pacers backing him up, Irfan knew he could go all out. I believe that the wickets he picked against Zimbabwe will certainly boost his confidence.”