Babar Azam says Pakistan not focused on only one team but all opponents

KARACHI: Pakistan captain Babar Azam has said his team are focused on playing well throughout the upcoming World Cup and not only against hosts India. “We are going to play the World Cup, not to play only against India,” Babar said during a press conference at the National Bank Stadium here on Thursday. Babar said Pakistan would approach all their nine matches of the league stage with a “winning mentality” to increase their chances of taking the crown. “Apart from India, we have to play against nine teams,” he added. “If we play well against all of them, only then we are going to play in the final.” The World Cup is set to be staged in India from October 5 to November 19. Whether Pakistan will travel across the border to take part in the showpiece is, however, yet to be confirmed. Currently, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with the relevant departments of the government is carrying out due diligence as part of a routine process before it gives the green light for team Pakistan to fly to India. The skipper said his team were prepared for the World Cup and that they were ready to feature at any venue they were asked to play at.

“Wherever there is cricket planned for us, we will play there,” he said. “For us, it is always a good challenge to play at different conditions and varying venues and put up a good show. “As a player, as a captain, I try to perform in all countries, dominate over there and win matches for Pakistan.” Pakistan are scheduled to play their nine league matches in five cities, their first stop being Hyderabad. There they play Netherlands and Sri Lanka — the two qualifiers from Zimbabwe — on October 6 and 12 respectively. Their next fixture is the big one, travelling west to Ahmedabad for the India game on October 15. They then go down south to Bengaluru to play Australia on October 20, and onward to Chennai, where Afghanistan await on October 23 and South Africa too on October 27. Pakistan then shuttle between Kolkata (v Bangladesh) and Bengaluru (v New Zealand) on October 31 and November 4 respectively, before finishing their league-stage fixtures against England in Kolkata.

Most Pakistan players are currently in Karachi, attending a conditioning camp before their two-match Test series in Sri Lanka. The series starts July 16 in Galle, with Pakistan playing their first Test after a gap of six months. The second Test is in Colombo from July 24. In the last ICC World Test Championship cycle, Pakistan were derailed in their home series with scorelines of 0-1 against Australia, 0-3 against England, and a drawn series against New Zealand. The Sri Lanka Test series is the first away series for Pakistan in the 2023-2025 cycle, and also have away tours of Australia (three Tests) and South Africa (two) lined up. They will host England (three), West Indies (two), and Bangladesh (two) at home.

“When you reflect back on the championship, you look out for all the positives and mainly what we were lacking in,” Babar said. “We did look back and plucked a few points. We’ll try to start this cycle in a positive way and up our game by 5-10 percent. We talked about taking our partnerships longer and with the ball, we have to take wickets. With the bat, if we were going with 3.5 [run rate], so now we have to change our game to try and go with 4.” On a question about taking a leaf out of the book on how England and Australia play Test cricket, Babar insisted that his side had their own way of playing.