Pakistan captain Waqar Younis admitted on Sunday his team will find it difficult to recover from the stunning World Cup defeat to India.

"It will not be easy to lift the team after losing to India," Waqar said a day after his side crashed to a six-wicket humiliation at Centurion on Saturday.

Pakistan, stranded on eight points from five games, must not only defeat Zimbabwe handsomely at Bulawayo on Tuesday but hope Australia do not stumble against England at Port Elizabeth later on Sunday to stay in contention for the Super Sixes.

That will leave Pakistan, Zimbabwe and England tied on 12 points each with net run-rates determining the third qualifier from Pool A behind Australia and India.

When Pakistan won the World Cup in 1992, they made it to the semifinals only after Australia brushed aside the West Indies in their last league match.

"I hate to go through the back door," the Pakistani captain said. "We are just not playing good cricket and it is frustrating," said Waqar, who may not be retained as captain after the World Cup.

"At the moment I am more concerned about my team, what happens afterwards will be dealt with later."

India joined defending champions Australia in the Super Sixes after Sachin Tendulkar smashed a superb 98 off 75 balls to steer his team towards Pakistan's challenging 273-7.

"India played much better cricket than us and Sachin took the game away from us," said Waqar, who dismissed Virender Sehwag and rival captain Saurav Ganguly off successive deliveries to raise Pakistan's hopes.

"When we got Tendulkar we thought there was a chance but Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh played very sensibly."

Dravid and Yuvraj held their nerves and put on an unbroken 99 for the fifth wicket to guide their team to an emphatic win.

Waqar said Pakistan's highly-acclaimed bowling attack, of which he himself is an integral part, must share the blame for the defeat.

"We bowled poorly, gave the batsmen room to hit and did not maintain a good line," he said.

The world's fastest bowler Shoaib Akhtar was hammered for 72 runs in his 10 overs, Waqar yielded 71 from 8.4 overs while record-holder Wasim Akram conceded 48 in his 10.

Waqar admitted that losing to India must have left millions of fans back home disappointed.

"It was a big game for them, we too are shattered at the loss, but let's hope all ends well."

Pakistan team flew to Bulawayo on Sunday morning with an eye on the Australia-England match in progress in Port Elizabeth.

"Only when we know that England have lost, will be plan for our match," Waqar said. "Our fate rests on that game."