Waqar Younis hopes his Pakistan side are starting to discover the same belief that underpinned the nation's charge to glory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

In the previous World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand, the co-hosts of this year's event, a Pakistan team captained by Imran Khan lost three of their first five matches before rallying superbly to win the competition for the first time.

Pakistan made a similarly disappointing start to the 2015 tournament, going down to rivals India in their opening match prior to a humiliating 150-run defeat at the hands of West Indies.

However, they have since demonstrated significant improvement and a 29-run victory over South Africa on Saturday suggested Pakistan could yet contend for glory.

"I hope it turns out to be the same, but we have to really work hard," said Waqar, Pakistan's head coach.

"World Cup is a pressure game. In '92 Pakistan handled the pressure really well. They lost early games and they came back really strongly.

"They had the belief. Imran Khan had the serious belief, and I'm sure and I hope that belief is coming into our dressing room that we can deliver.

"I'm not going to say or think too ahead of it, but of course we are on the right direction.

"Of course when things get harder, I guess everyone pushes on, everyone presses on. I guess the entire team felt after losing the first two games that it's about time that they should come to the party.

"It was the start of the World Cup, I guess everybody was just sort of getting in. If you look around the entire tournament, teams who were playing aggressively have been more successful. I think what we did in this game [against South Africa] was very similar, and hopefully we're going to carry on with this."

Waqar's post-match media conference ended on a sour note, with the former pace bowler storming out after being infuriated by a question relating to the selection of Sarfraz Ahmed.