MELBOURNE
\nPakistan have soaked up stories from the landmark 1992 Cricket World Cup final win over England in the lead-up to Sunday\u2019s Twenty20 decider and hope to share their own tales of triumph in years to come, team mentor Matthew Hayden said on Friday.
\nImran Khan\u2019s side beat England by 22 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in that 50-over tournament to claim their first World Cup trophy in a landmark moment for Pakistan cricket.
\nHayden said Pakistan board chief Ramiz Raja, who opened the batting and took the final catch that sealed victory in the 1992 final, had addressed Babar Azam\u2019s team on Friday morning.
\n\u201cHe was reliving some of those stories around the \u201992 World Cup,\u201d former Australia opener Hayden told reporters at the (Melbourne Cricket Ground) MCG.
\n\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s great because that\u2019s why you play the game. These boys and their careers will be but a blink and they\u2019ll be looking back on this tournament.
\n\u201cAnd they\u2019ll tell these stories around campfires in their villages, in media conferences like the one we are here and it will be an important chapter of Pakistan cricket \u2014 as the \u201992 campaign was.\u201d
\nEngland, who won the last 50-overs World Cup in 2019 on home soil, are rated clear favourites by bookmakers to win on Sunday after humiliating India by 10 wickets in Thursday\u2019s semi-final at Adelaide Oval.
\nHayden, however, felt Pakistan\u2019s attack would be a good match for the English and particularly their captain Jos Buttler and Alex Hales, who chased down 169 for victory in an unbroken partnership to embarrass India\u2019s bowlers.
\n\u201cI think the bases are covered,\u201d said Hayden.
\n\u201cI think both sides actually have got very equal set-ups. It\u2019s just \u2018even-stevens\u2019. At the start of this tournament, I always thought that England was going to be a huge threat.
\n\u201cAnd here we are on the edge of a final.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE Pakistan have soaked up stories from the landmark 1992 Cricket World Cup final win over England in the lead-up to Sunday\u2019s Twenty20 decider and hope to share their own tales of triumph in years to come, team mentor Matthew Hayden said on Friday. Imran Khan\u2019s side beat England by 22 runs at the Melbourne […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-294770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n