Pakistan's trademark aggression key to beating South Africa, says Waqar Younis

Waqar Younis was speaking with the media after Pakistan beat South Africa in the World Cup. You can also listen to the full press conference in the audio widget above. Q. This is your first big win of the tournament. How do you see it for teams morale and your team’s chances once you get into the quarterfinals? WAQAR YOUNIS: Look, I think we still need to win the last game to get to the quarterfinal. But, yeah, we started playing good cricket, some aggressive cricket, which I think Pakistan cricket is known for in the past. Started finding the right combination, people have started believing in themselves, players have started trusting their abilities. I think this was a key. I’m very thrilled. Very happy with this victory, but it’s a long way to go. Q. Congratulations on the win first. Obviously, you called your bowling attack the best in the world, and you must be really happy about their performance. Please dissect that for us. Also a couple days ago it seemed there were doubts about Sarfraz Ahmed, are other doubts now perhaps done and dusted in his performance today? What kind of a tonic is it for the entire team? WAQAR YOUNIS: Talk about bowling, I think we bowled extremely well. We were right on top of the game. We bowled with gas. We bowled some real pace and with real purpose. Regarding Sarfraz, I never doubted his abilities. We always knew how good he is. Just regarding his opening, I was just talking about it the last time around. You know, makeshift opener, but he’s done a superb job today. [caption id=“attachment_2141405” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Pakistan celebrate a wicket against South Africa. AFP[/caption] Q. The batting, although it was a great match, there must be just, if you have just to look not at the silver lining but the dark lining to the cloud, it must be the batting end of it, ten runs, five wickets falling. Is that a bit of a concern still? WAQAR YOUNIS: Look, it’s a game of cricket. You’re not going to get everything, every day. As long as we’re on the right path that’s more important. Yes, it was not the best of the end of the innings where we finish, but we needed a good start with the bowl and that’s what Irfan provided. We knew we had to get them out to win this game. Batting, I thought at the top we played with purpose. We played with aggression. We made use of their fifth bowler. We always knew that they’re weak when it comes to their fifth bowler, so we made full use of it. So the plans did work. Q. By following up on the question on Sarfraz, you maintained the though you may not have other technique, today actually in the way he handled swing and came down the wicket and bounced he seemed to hang back, so he seemed to show technique. What may you have missed? Secondly, having a regular wicket keeper instead of a standing keeper especially with a catch like Amla’s where he plucked it out of thin air? WAQAR YOUNIS: Yeah, you can’t ask for better if someone was a regular wicket keeper can keep the wicket if are your country, and he also opened really well. But don’t forget, Umar Akmal, the last couple of games he’s done a superb job. He’s had five catches in the last game he played. So happy with both. They’re both doing a wonderful job. As I said earlier, it’s the belief which matters the most, and I think both of them have got the belief with the gloves on. And Umar, of course, is going to be handy in the field also. Q. You’ve already spoken about the bowling a little bit, but one of the things AB de Villiers said he didn’t find there was anything extraordinary about your attack. How would you respond to that given what you’ve brought to the tournament so far? Do you think you have an extraordinary attack? WAQAR YOUNIS: Maybe he didn’t find because he played really well. But I guess the others found it. If you ask the others probably they’ll tell you it was not easy to bat against. You know, it does not really matter what others believe. It’s we have to believe is are we good enough to compete in this competition? Fair enough, it’s the first big victory, but as I said, we’re on the right path. Hopefully we’re going to get better and better. Q. Was there any specific reason to win this match, and what do you think was the reason? Why was it not present in the previous matches and who is responsible for that? WAQAR YOUNIS: Of course when things get harder, I guess everyone pushes on, everyone presses on. I guess the entire team felt after losing the first two games that it’s about time that they should come to the party. It was the start of the World Cup, I guess everybody was just sort of getting in. If you look around the entire tournament, teams who were playing aggressively have been more successful. I think what we did in this game was very similar, and hopefully we’re going to carry on with this. Q. It’s hard to think of Pakistan in a World Cup in this part of the world without thinking of 1992. I know you weren’t part of that squad, but do you see any similarities? WAQAR YOUNIS: I hope. I hope it turns out to be the same, but we have to really work hard. World Cup is a pressure game. In ‘92 Pakistan handled the pressure really well. They lost early games and they came back really strongly. They had the belief. Imran Khan had the serious belief, and I’m sure and I hope that belief is coming into our dressing room that we can deliver. I’m not going to say or think too ahead of it, but of course we are on the right direction. Q. Just a quick question, as you mentioned a few minutes earlier that the players started to believe in themselves. So do you believe now this is our final 11? WAQAR YOUNIS: Look, we’ve got 15 here. You know, it’s hard to believe that only 11’s going to play. Yes, I believe that we can do it. It has to come from me to begin with before it comes to the team. Yeah, they’re not 11. They’re 15. That’s how I look at it. Of course, if we need to make any changes, we will, but yes, these 11 which were out there today did the job wonderfully.