PAK vs IND: Babar says Pakistan needs to 'focus' despite pressure in T20 World Cup match

LAHORE: Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam appeared as a special guest in the 52nd edition of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) podcast on Sunday.

Babar discussed in the podcast that the match between the biggest rivals, India and Pakistan, carries a lot of importance for the world and has a separate fan base.

The most-awaited match between Pakistan and India will take place on Sunday (June 9) during the T20 World Cup 2024. 

Moreover, Babar wants his team to perform well against India, play easy cricket, and believe in their skills and hard work.

“The whole world is focused on the day when the India-Pakistan match is held. Naturally, there will be nerves, but we need to keep our focus, stick to the basics and play easy cricket. It is always a pressure game; the more you keep cool and calm, believe in your skills and hard work, then things get easier,” Babar said.

In the episode, the top-order batter of the team sat down for a candid discussion focusing on the forthcoming T20 World Cup 2024.

Azam seemed really excited for the tournament and emphasized the importance of playing in a major event.

Despite suffering a 2-0 defeat recently against England, Babar hopes that the Pakistan team wins this trophy. However, for that, the team needs to play top-class cricket in every match.

“I am happy and excited because when you go to play in a major event, you have different excitement. It’s the aim of any cricketer to play in a World Cup, so that kind of feeling is coming over me. The hope is always to lift the trophy, but for that to happen, we have to play top cricket against every side,” he said.

Additionally, Babar agreed that playing in the USA for the first time could be challenging for the team.

“Conditions in the USA may pose challenges as we are going there as a national side for the first time. We are in the process of collating various cricket and match-related information from players who have played there, which can help and assist us in our preparations.”

Babar highlighted some past performances by Pakistan against Australia and Zimbabwe in 2021 and 2022. 

He stated that the absence of Shaheen Afridi in the T20 World Cup 2022 had a detrimental effect on the team during the final against England. 

“I think the semi-final we lost against Australia (2021); we could have won that. In that match, fielding was the reason that made a different impact. If we had bowled two or three dot balls in the final stages, then the pressure would have got to them. But we lost as a team and not due to an individual,” Babar said.

“For me, in 2022, we could and should have won the India game, but they took it away. The most hurtful was the defeat against Zimbabwe. It hurts more because we had played good cricket against India and people were praising our performance and fightback,” he added.

"Shaheen's [Afridi] injury was impactful because, at that time, the pressure was on them [England]. We were forced to give an over to a spinner and that made a difference," 

The Pakistan team will be playing its first match of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Thursday against the USA.

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