Pakistan cricketer, Babar Azam will rely on his strength when the Green Caps begin their campaign later today against Hong Kong in the Asia Cup 2018.
Meanwhile, Azam has been the face of Pakistan batting over the last one year. He has made the one drop position his own scoring runs at a consistent rate. Previously, Zaheer Abbas had described Azam as the future of Pakistan batting.
Pakistan had been going through a transition in Test cricket following the retirements of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. Abbas picked Babar Azam as the team’s next batting star across formats. While the young cricketer is yet to stamp his authority in the Test format, he has eye-catching statistics in the white-ball formats.
Azam is the only batsman in international cricket at the moment to have 50-plus averages in both white-ball formats, which often draws comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli. In 46 ODIs so far he has 1,973 runs at 54.80 including eight hundred. In T20 internationals, he is averaging 53.00.
The 23-year-old Babar Azam while speaking to ahead of Asia Cup match, said he will trust his strengths.
“Whenever I walk out to bat, I focus on batting till the end. I back my strength, which is self-confidence,” Azam said.
Absence of Virat Kohli will be an advantage
With Kohli missing from the Indian team of Asia Cup, Babar Azam hoped his team would capitalise on that. Meanwhile, the arch-rivals can face each other thrice as per the formats of the tournament.
“It will make a difference, for Virat Kohli is a huge match-winner. Also, he is in great form. I think his absence can give us an advantage,” Azam added. “It’s a challenge. We don’t play against each other pretty often. So it becomes challenging when the two sides meet in important tournaments,” he concluded.