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Friday, March 15, 2024

Babar Azam’s press conference before Netherlands tour

Babar Azam addresses a press conference in Lahore just before the team leaves for Netherlands tour

Pakistan will play a three-match one-day international (ODI) series in Amsterdam from August 16-21 and will immediately depart for the ACC T20 Asia Cup which will be starting on August 27 in UAE.

A reporter cited Pakistan’s best cricketers’ exhaustion and injuries as two factors that likely contributed significantly to their defeat by Sri Lanka in the second Test match. Babar replied that all of Pakistan’s current cricketers are in good enough physical condition to play in all three game types.

The captain claimed that as the Men in Green prepare to compete in the Asia Cup and face their bitter rivals, all India vs. Pakistan matches put pressure on the players.

“We always try to play it like a normal match, but yes, there is definitely different pressure”, he said while addressing a question.

Read more: Babar Azam can topple Joe Root as the best Test batter: Jayawardena

The captain stated that the players were chosen with the “best” interest of the team in mind in answer to a query about potential alterations to the squad.

Recent performances by Babar Azam in all three game forms have been outstanding. He is actually the only cricketer to have a top-three batter ranking across all three forms according to the ICC rankings. In ODIs and T20Is, he is now in first place. In Test cricket, he is ranked third, after Joe Root of England and Marnus Labuschagne of Australia.

When asked if he would be aiming to set new records against a weak Netherlands team, Babar responded that his main goal is to help his team win games.

“I never go out to bat thinking about records. My only aim is to contribute and win matches for Pakistan,” he added.

Read more: Babar Azam retains first spot in ICC T20I rankings

Pakistan squad for ACC T20 Asia Cup includes Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, and Usman Qadir.