By IANS,
Dhaka/Chandigarh : Pakistan team manager Intikhab Alam Friday said his side is always motivated when they play India.
“I hope it will be a good game. You can call it the final of the World Cup. I hope we have an exciting game, a close game, an interesting game,” Alam said in Dhaka, before leaving for Chandigarh for the semi-final clash against India slated for March 30.
The former captain said the Pakistan team was eager to face India in the semi-final and always backed the co-hosts against Australia in Thursday’s quarterfinal in Ahmedabad.
“Every member of the team wanted India to win. Playing India motivates the team,” said Alam, who was the manager and coach of the 1992 World Cup winning team and manager of the team that won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2009.
Meanwhile the Pakistani team, led by skipper Shahid Afridi, arrived in Chandigarh in the afternoon for their semi-final clash at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium in Mohali Wednesday.
Pakistani players including Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar reached hotel Taj with scores of police and other security personnel providing them cover.
Security personnel lined both sides of the stretch between the Chandigarh airport and the hotel.
“We have provided foolproof security cover both inside and outside the hotel where the Pakistan team is staying. We have issued a list of do’s and don’ts to the players and team officials. We have told them to inform us if they want to go out of the hotel,” Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police H.S. Doon said.