Pakistan can beat Australia: Rameez Raja

Karachi:

With Australia no longer the awe-inspiring side they used to be, former captain Rameez Raja feels Pakistan have a golden opportunity to beat the world champions in their own backyard in an upcoming Test and ODI series later his month.

"In the past our players went to Australia knowing they were playing against the best team in the world but now this mental block is not there in their minds and they have the potential to beat the Australians if they play consistent and positive cricket," Rameez said about the three Test and five-ODI series scheduled to start in the last week of this month.

"The conditions in New Zealand and Australia are not that different and our players will now be in touch and in practice which is a big plus point for them," he said.

Talking on the captaincy of Muhammad Yousuf, Rameez said it was too early to judge him.

"The only thing I hope is that he will move away from this draw mentality. It is a fact that when you have a temporary captain his main priority is to ensure he does not lose matches," he said.

"But I think we need to have a winning mentality and we should also soon have a youngster leading the team if Younus Khan is not available," he added.