Sports shrink's "hypnotism" behind Pak's World Twenty20 win: Malik

Lahore, June 26 (ANI): Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has attributed the team's World Twenty20 win to the special sessions conducted by a sports psychologist ahead of their visit to England.

Praising captain Younis Khan for his skills, Malik said the sessions that the team had with the psychologist, greatly helped the players to overcome their negative frame of mind and focus on the target only.

"I think those sessions helped as the doctor used the power of hypnotism to drill it into our minds that we were going to England to become the Twenty20 World Cup champions. It helped us a lot to play to our true potential," The Daily Times quoted Malik, as saying.

Malik still regretted losing to India in the inaugural ICC Twenty20 Championship in South Africa in 2007, and said he was bitterly disappointed after the loss, specially because he was the captain of the team then.

He described the victory against South Africa in the semi-final of the Championship as the most important win, as it proved that Pakistan could beat any team in the world on its day.

"I think our victory over South Africa in the semi-final showed that we could beat anyone on our day. We had the momentum with us and with Shahid Afridi finding his batting form, it was almost like we were destined to win," said Malik. (ANI)