India will be under pressure in T20 World Cup clash: Babar
Babar Azam said India have not played T20 cricket as a group
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Pakistan national cricket team captain Babar Azam has said that it would have been more fun to play if New Zealand s main team had come to Pakistan.
Azam, Pakistan’s captain, is looking forward to the forthcoming T20 World Cup match against arch-rivals India. Incidentally, India and Pakistan have been grouped together in Group 2 of the mega T20 event and will face off on October 24.
Despite the fact that India have won more matches when both nations have played against each other in World Cups, Babar Azam believes their arch-rivals would be under more pressure.
Babar pointed out that India haven’t played T20I cricket in a long time, which would aid Pakistan in getting their campaign off to a winning start.
Following a meeting with the soon-to-be-appointed new PCB Chairman, Ramiz Raja, Babar Azam spoke about the clash against India which will open their campaign. He said: “I think India will be under more pressure as compared to Pakistan during the World Cup match. We would like to start our campaign by defeating India.”
The skipper noted with the tournament being held in the UAE gives them a slight advantage as they are already familiar with the conditions.
Pakistan have been using the venues in the UAE as their home stadiums with hosting in Pakistan only slowly coming back into fray after over a decade. Azam added: “It is like playing at our home ground when we play at UAE venues and we want to give our 100 percent on the field coupled with that,” he added.
Babar also expressed satisfaction with the ODI squad announced for the series against New Zealand which has drawn a lot of flak from critics and former players. He claimed that a balanced squad had been picked for the series.
The selectors dropped former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed from the squad while recalling batsmen, Iftikhar Ahmed and Khushdil Shah. "We are facing issues in the middle-order and this series is a good opportunity for players making a comeback to cement their place in the side,” he said.
