Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, said that all nine of their ICC ODI World Cup 2023 matches in India will be significant. The tournament does not revolve around just one India vs Pakistan game on October 15, he added. In Karachi, where the Men in Green is holding a training camp before the Sri Lanka Test series, Babar spoke to the media.
Pakistan have nine league games scheduled, with Hyderabad as their first stop out of five. Men in Green play on October 6 and 12, respectively as they face Netherlands and Sri Lanka, the teams from WC qualifiers.
The important fixture is their next one, which is on October 15 when they go to Ahmedabad for the match against India. After that, they travel south to Bengaluru to play Australia on October 20 before continuing on to Chennai to play South Africa on October 27 and Afghanistan on October 23.
Following their games against Bangladesh and New Zealand in Bengaluru and Kolkata, respectively, Pakistan then plays its last league-stage match against England in Kolkata.
What did Babar Azam said?
“We are going to play World Cup and not just going to play against India only,” Babar Azam said. “There are eight other teams and it’s not only India and only if we beat them then we will make it into the final. We are not focused on only one team, we are focused on all other teams in the tournament. Our plan is that we have to play well against all of them and win against them.”
“In our minds, we will play wherever cricket will be played and wherever the matches occur. You must always be prepared since that is what we do as professionals. You prepare yourself for various circumstances and environments in every setting, and you accept the challenge to live up to it. As a player and captain, I hope to lead and win Pakistani matches while scoring runs in every nation. We only plan to play against one team, so that is all we are thinking about,” Babar Azam added.
The government must approve Pakistan’s participation, though there is a provisional authorisation that will be reconsidered closer to the tournament. There are no further obstacles at this time other than the customary security reconnaissance before the squad takes off.
In a letter to the government, the PCB asked for input on whether the Pakistani team should be allowed to visit India, whether there were any concerns with any of the five locations for the Pakistan games, and whether the Pakistani government should send a security delegation if necessary.
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