** ICC Champions Trophy, Colombo: Pakistan v Holland **
Little has gone right for Pakistan in recent weeks and beating Holland is unlikely to ease the pressure on skipper Waqar Younis and his team.
A series of poor results has already cost coach Mudassar Nazar his job and they cannot qualify for the semi-finals, no matter how emphatic the margin of victory.
Despite their early return home, however, Waqar remains confident that Pakistan will be a force to be reckoned with at next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
"I’ve had lots of bad patches in my bowling career so it’s one of those patches that you go through. You can’t win all the games.
“Fair enough, we’ve lost too many, but we’re still a lot better side than most of the sides in the world and I don’t think people should underestimate us. Things will get better,” he said.
**
Inzamam faces surgery **
Pakistan have not been helped by injuries to key players and they will take on the Dutch with only 12 of their 14-man squad available for selection.
Batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq (heel) and Yousuf Youhana (shoulder) have been ruled out, but any other result than a convincing Pakistan win would still be a massive upset.
**
Holland are highly committed in the field**
Holland totalled only 86 in their opening game against Sri Lanka and will not relish facing an attack including Waqar, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Mohammad Sami and Abdur Razzaq.
Feiko Kloppenburg and Henk-Jan Moi come into their side at the expense of Robert Oosterom and Jacob-Jan Esmeijer for a game which is all about gaining extra experience ahead of the World Cup.
"We don’t play many one-day internationals, so we want to play as many as we can.
“We are after similar standards (in the field) to those we acheived against Sri Lanka, as well as trying to improve our batting. It would be a setback if we don’y achieve that aim,” said captain Roland Lefebvre.
The two sides will be meeting for only the second time - Pakistan winning the first by eight wickets in Lahore during the 1996 World Cup.
On that occasion, Waqar took four for 26 and he will be hoping for a similar return this time.
Pakistan (from): Waqar Younis (captain), Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Sami, Rashid Latif, Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik, Wasim Akram, Younis Khan.
Holland (probable): Roland Lefebvre (captain), Daan van Bunge, Victor Grandia, Feiko Kloppenburg, Tim de Leede, Henk-Jan Mol, Adeel Raja, Edgar Schiferli, Reinout Scholte, Luuk van Troost, Bas Zuiderent.
Umpires: David Orchard & Rudi Koertzen.
Third umpire: Daryl Harper
I hope this is the turning point and we can see Pakistan winning again.
