Confident Babar says quality cricket will be seen in T20 series

The young prolific batsman said spinner Shadab Khan wasn't available for the first T20

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistani Skipper Babar Azam was confident about the Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe beginning Saturday at the Pindi Stadium Rawalpindi saying the players were positive and quality cricket would be seen in the games.

"We will try to play positive cricket in the series. We have got a good pool of players and will try to carry the good type of cricket in T20s that we played in the recently concluded ODI series against Zimbabwe. If you back your players then you get good performances," he said at the pre-series press conference on Friday.

The young prolific batsman said spinner Shadab Khan wasn t available for the first T20 but we would try that he comeback after getting fit.

"We checked are best possible strength in the ODI series to see where we stand and lack. We played different combinations in bowling and batting and the youngsters Mohammad Hasnain, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Musa performed well. We should back our youngsters when they are given a chance in the team as they get confidence and perform better. We didn t finish well but our confidence is high and the players are positive," he said.

To a question, he said the combination which would be best for the team will be played on the day. "We will also try to go in with senior and junior combination and will try what s best for the team. We will bring in Muhammad Hafeez. We rested Shoaib Malik and a youngster will be played in his place as whoever batsman will get set on the position will be backed. Hopefully we will also Abdullah Shafiq as we get good results," he said.

Speaking about his chances to regain the top spot in the ICCT20 Rankings, he said my first priority was the team.

"Personal goal is achieved when you attain your team s goal," he said.

The Lahore-born cricketer also lauded pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi saying he was the main bowler and the more he plays the better he would get. "His mindset is also to play more and more cricket to gain experience. He s bowling outstandingly and I enjoy seeing him bowl," he said and added that we won t take any team easy and would go in with full strength.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Skipper Chamu Chibhabha said moving forward as team we want to be winning more matches so it doesn t matter what format it is. "It s important whenever we go out there we play the brand of cricket which win us more matches, that s the mentality," he said.

To a question, he said we haven t talked about the combinations yet. "When we played our last game that we won I thought we were a better team than Pakistan and it is up to us to execute that on the field and get the results we want," he said.

Chibhabha said we believe we were a better team and are capable of winning the series. "We have never beaten Pakistan in Pakistan for the last 22 years but we managed to do that so it shows if you come as a team and believe in yourself then you can achieve anything. The mentality and the attitude in the camp is about winning games," he said.

Pakistan clinched the three-match ODI against Zimbabwe series by 2-1. Pakistan won the first ODI by 26 runs while defeated Zimbabwe by six wickets in the second. However Zimbabwe defeated the Green-shirts in the last ODI in a nerve-racking super over. Both teams would play three T20s on November 7, 8 and 10 at Rawalpindi.