Pakistan will begin their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign against the Netherlands at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium tomorrow.
Babar Azam’s men, who lost both of their World Cup warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand, would be looking to make a strong start to the mega event.
“We have been in Hyderabad for a week and our preparations have been really good,” Babar told PCB Digital on the eve of Pakistan’s tournament opener. “We have had two practice matches in which we tried different combinations and gave everyone an opportunity to see if they could play in any situation. Overall our practice went well and we will give our best.”
Pakistan are one of the favourites for the title after an impressive run in the just-concluded World Cup cycle as they had the best win-loss ratio of 2.400 with 24 wins in 36 matches.
“Both bowling and batting are our strengths,” Babar replied when asked what he felt his side’s strengths are. “Our batters have been performing from the top-order down to the lower-order. Every player is stepping up and taking responsibility. In bowling, our fast bowling has always been our strength but even our spinners are showing promise. Since we have come to India, we have seen our spinners take wickets in the middle overs, which is a good sign. We will try and keep this momentum going.”
When Pakistan face the Netherlands on Friday, it will be the first time in a little less than in 11 years that they will take part in an ODI match on the Indian shores.
“As far as my experience goes, and having watched matches in India on television, I’ll say the pitches seem really good. Matches are going to be high scoring. As for the boundaries, they are normal-sized, not too small but not too big either. The pitches are true – sometimes you need a little more time (as a batter) early on (in the game), but once you play on it for a while it feels really good. There is not much margin for the bowlers as they have to keep their lines wicket-to-wicket and deploy variations. If they err in lines, then the batters are going to make the most of it.”
Speaking about his last four years, the Pakistan captain said, “My journey has been really good. There have been ups and downs, which is natural. There have been challenges at times, but I have tried to live up to the expectations of the fans. I have met a lot of good people in the process. I met some very good teammates and was able to forge a bond with them. It has been three years since I have been playing with these boys so we have bonded well in this time. At the end of the day, we spend more time with each other than we get to spend with our families. We try to be happy with each other's performance and try to give our best for Pakistan.”
- Babar Azam
