Pakistan's spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed has claimed that the confidence and self-belief in the squad reminded him of the World Cup winning squad under Imran Khan in 1992, insisting that this could see them winning the coveted tournament this year.
Former leg-spinner Mushtaq was part of Imran's team that came back from the brink in the preliminary league to beat England in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to win their only World Cup title so far 23 years ago.
Pakistan were close to elimination when a point gained in a rained-off match against England in Adelaide after being dismissed for 74 galvanised the team, The Dawn reported.
This time too, Pakistan have bounced back from defeats in the first two matches against archrivals India and the West Indies to win the next three games in a row, which included a brilliant victory in the previous game against mighty South Africa in Auckland when they bowled AB de Villiers' men out for 202 after being restricted to 222.
Pakistan would face Ireland at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday for a place in the quarterfinals with both teams on three wins from five matches, with victory steering the winner into the knockout round and leaving the loser facing a tricky run-rate countback against the West Indies, who face minnows UAE in Napier on Sunday.
Ahmed said that the momentum is with them and the team has a lot of confidence and self-belief, adding that this reminds him so much of 1992. He claimed that Imran instilled in them a sense of self-belief that nothing was impossible back in 1992, and added that head coach Waqar Younis has said the same thing to the 2015 squad.
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Ahmed claimed that Younis keeps telling them that if they don't have self-belief, they can't achieve anything.
Ahmed also revealed that captain Misbah-ul-Haq had sent a text message to the entire team on Friday morning to encourage them for Sunday's must-win match.
According to the spin coach, Misbah wrote that they are fighting for the nation, they are going to win for the nation, adding that they would give 100 percent and leave the rest to God.
Mushtaq, who last played for Pakistan in 2003, claimed 185 Test wickets in 52 matches and 161 wickets in 144 ODIs during a 14-year career, the report added.