'Pakistan is a threat, don't want England to play them in knockouts' : Michael Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has revealed that he does not want England to face Pakistan in the semi-finals. Pakistan have been on a roll in the 20-20 World Cup. A lot happened before the team arrived in UAE. Their head coach Misbah ul Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis had stepped down from their roles, the squad for the showpiece event had to be modified after facing backlash from former cricketers and experts.

Ideally, these things have a negative impact on the team but not for Pakistan. The team put all negativity behind and thumped their authority in the tournament.

They started their campaign with a 10 wicket win over India, before carrying on their juggernaut and beating New Zealand and Afghanistan. Pakistan have Namibia and Scotland left to face and it’s no brainer that the team are favourites to beat them. In that case, Pakistan will qualify as the top-ranked team from Group B and will face the second team from the other Group.

Vaughan is aware of the threat Pakistan poses and feels that England need to beat Australia in the coming game to avoid facing Pakistan in the semi-finals. Australia and England have not lost a game in the tournament and the winner of the coming game will have a great chance of topping the group. The two teams are set to clash on October 30 at the Dubai International Stadium.

“England vs Australia game is a monster. Whoever wins is going to finish top. I am sure Pakistan are going to finish top in their group,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz.

“I’ll be more than happy to play in the other semi-final and hope someone knocks them (Pakistan) out,” he added.