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Lawson’s priorities

Special Correspondent

Dhaka: Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson said he and the team were more concerned about performances on the arena than e-mails.

On Saturday’s final, he said, “Well, it’s a final, you win a final or you lose it. It’s not do-or-die. It’s just the final of a tournament and we’re going to win it.

“Even if we lose, the sun will come up the next morning and we’ll head home and try to win the next tournament. That’s what life and cricket is all about. Sometimes people get overtaken by the consequences of cricket matches,” he said.

“That’s why when people overreact to these losses you tend to dismiss it, because you actually know what the guys are doing. We’re more concerned with looking after our own performances than what other people think about it,” he said.

The PCB chairman was entitled to his opinion, he added.

Overblown rivalry

The coach maintained there was harmony within the team. He said the India-Pakistan rivalry was overblown a bit. “Whomever we play in the final, we would want to win,” he said.

The team had been a touch unlucky in the competition, he felt. “If we had swapped luck, we would have done better,” he said.

Lawson also disagreed that Kamran Akmal had been dishonest while claiming a catch off Sehwag. “I thought the catch was out. My umpires’ report reflected that I thought the catch was out,” he said.

The former Aussie paceman denied that Malik needed a break as captain. He added that the side was not missing pacemen Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

India coach Kirsten was looking at Plan ‘B’, in the event of the Sehwag-Gambhir pair being separated early. “We might also lose a wicket early on but we’ve got quality batsmen who can apply themselves to that situation.”

“We’ve had to remain focussed on our preparation and at the same time give the guys rest. We’ve tried to balance the two and everyone’s feeling good and looking forward to the final.”

On an India-Pakistan final, he said, “It’s always a great clash. It’s going to be a different Pakistan team out there. We will like to try and stay away from worrying about the opposition too much and look forward to executing our plans.”

Kirsten termed the pitch a good one for batting. He added the young Indian team had the energy, enthusiasm and fitness.

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