Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, believes that each of his team’s nine matches at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, including the much-anticipated matchup versus India, is equally important.
Babar is aware that his team must play well throughout the entire tournament if they are to win a second World Cup title after the one they won in Australia in 1992. While all eyes will be on Ahmedabad on October 15, when India hosts Pakistan in this year’s 50-over showcase, Babar understands his team must perform well throughout the entire tournament.
With Sri Lanka and the Netherlands qualifying from the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier competition in Zimbabwe, Pakistan now knows the nine opponents they will face in India later this year. They will join the other seven nations that Babar’s troops will play.
Although Babar acknowledges the significance of Pakistan’s match against India, he insists that for his team to succeed, they must put on consistent performances throughout the six-week competition.
Babar declared, “We will play in the World Cup and not just against India.”
There are eight other teams besides India, so beating them is the only way we can go to the championship game. We are concentrating on every other team competing in the event, not just one. Our strategy is to perform well and prevail in every match against them.
During the World Cup, Pakistan has games scheduled in five different cities, and Babar says his team needs to be prepared for any potential changes in weather.
“You prepare yourself for different conditions and in every environment. That is what we call a challenge, and you take it to live up to it,” he stated.
“As a player and captain, I want to lead and win games for Pakistan and score runs in every country. This is all we’re thinking about, in addition to playing against just one other team.
Pakistan fell short when attempting to qualify for the 2023 World Test Championship Final and Babar is expecting his players to show much improvement and continue to play more attacking cricket when the next cycle commences for them at Galle on July 16.
“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), now we have to change our game to try and go with four.”And while the World Cup is the big prize for Pakistan at the end of the year, Babar’s team has a more immediate goal of making a strong start to the new ICC World Test Championship campaign when they take on Sri Lanka in a two-test series later this month.
Pakistan’s prospects of making the World Cup, according to Wasim Akram, are that they want to get off to a solid start in the new ICC World Test Championship.
Babar anticipates his team will make significant strides and continue to play more aggressive cricket when the next cycle begins for them on July 16 in Galle. Pakistan failed in their attempt to advance to the 2023 World Test Championship Final.
Babar stated, “When you look back on the Championship, you look out for all the positives and mostly what we were missing.
We took note of a few things while looking back. This cycle, we’ll strive to get off to a good start and raise the bar by 5–10%. With the ball, we need to take wickets in addition to discussing the lengthening of our partnerships. If we were planning to go with 3.5 (run rate) with the bat, we now need to adjust our strategy in order to try to go with 4.
Moreover, Mickey Arthur, who is currently serving as team director for Pakistan, is a former coach of Sri Lanka, and Babar is hopeful that he will offer some much-needed guidance to his players.
Mickey Arthur, who oversaw Sri Lanka for a while as their head coach, will be helpful to the Pakistani team, according to Babar.
“He’ll be familiar with the conditions in Sri Lanka, and his background with the team will help us further prepare for the upcoming series.”
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