As Pakistan prepares for a "do or die" encounter with New Zealand tomorrow in Barbados, Pakistan left arm pace bowler Sohail Tanvir feels that the Pakistan team is low on confidence at the moment and that is hampering the teams efforts.

Speaking excusively to PakPassion.net Tanvir who was a member of last years World Cup winning squad in England stated "The ability is there, it's just a case of the confidence returning and then everything will fall into place. Last year in England we were the same, our confidence was low at the start of the competition and our victory against New Zealand at the Oval really boosted our confidence. The New Zealand match was the catalyst for some fantastic performances for the remainder of the tournament. Hopefully a victory against New Zealand can lift the team once again and boost the confidence levels of the players in the Caribbean".

Tanvir who was man of the tournament in the inaugural IPL tournament and has represented Pakistan on 15 occasions in Twenty/20 matches feels that if Pakistan can beat New Zealand on Saturday, then that could be the launchpad for another tournament winning performance.

"If Pakistan beat New Zealand, then I firmly believe that they can go and beat South Africa and reach the semi finals. Obviously the semi final becomes a one off game and in that situation I fancy Pakistan's chances against anyone".

Tanvir confirmed to PakPassion that he was present for some parts of the training camp in Lahore prior to the World Cup and is very surprised at the lacklustre fielding effort so far in the Caribbean.

"I didnt take part in the camp, but I was with the boys for some parts of the camp. A large amount of time was spent solely on the fielding, a lot of hard work was put in by the coaches and players to target the team's fielding and I am very surprised that the fielding has been so poor at the World Cup. Pakistan has never been a great fielding unit, but the effort against England was not acceptable. Even if your batsman have put up a score of 200, you will struggle to defend that total if you drop 5 catches and miss runouts also".

Tanvir feels that players of the calibre of Shoaib Malik and Umar Gul are being sorely missed in the West Indies, and stated "Gul and Malik are very good 20 over players and of course they are difficult to replace. You can bring in squad players, but when players that are in your first eleven are missing, that makes things very difficult".

Tanvir further added "As a bowler in Twenty over cricket you have to bowl with variety. It seems as if some of the Pakistani bowlers have bowled the same line and length too often, making things easier for the opposition batsmen".

Tanvir who has been suffering from a serious knee injury added that he is back in training and hopes to be fit for the tour of England later this year.

"I've been to Melbourne for treatment on the knee injury and although I haven't started to play cricket yet, I am in training, doing things like cycling to build up my strength. I'm hoping to be given the go ahead to start playing cricket next month with a view to being fully fit for the tour of England in July".