Pakistan will be playing their first international game in the United States of America (USA), as they look to aim for their second title during the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. The conditions for Babar Azam-led side will be quite unknown, and more difficult given they haven’t taken part in any of the practice games too.
The two games in the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, where Pakistan will open their campaign against the USA, who won the opening game of the tournament against Canada in a high-scoring game. The co-host chased down 197 runs with seven wickets in hand, and that too with 16 balls to spare, thanks to the unbeaten 94-run knock from Aaron Jones.
In the recent game at the venue, Nepal could post only 106, batting first, as the Netherlands bowlers used the conditions quite well, especially with their cutters, and variations. However, the former kept bowling in the good lines, and stretched the defence to the penultimate over.
‘I don’t have any personal milestone for this tournament’ – Babar Azam
Pakistan captain Babar Azam, addressing the media personnel going into the first game of their competition, has admitted that they are not too aware of the conditions of America yet. With Imad Wasim getting ruled out of the opening fixture, they will be a little experienced too.
Also Read: T20 World Cup 2024: Ricky Ponting Hopes To See Babar Azam Learning From Captaincy Mistakes
Babar, however, has banked on the experience of pacer Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan, both of whom have been part of the Major League Cricket (MLC), to share a few tips for the rest of the groups.
“USA’s team knows its conditions very well. Their players play all their cricket on these grounds. We will try to not repeat the mistakes we made in the past and our senior players have to take responsibility now,” Babar Azam displayed confidence towards his team in overcoming the challenges of the conditions and aimed to play with their strengths. “We rely on our strengths i.e. batting, as well as bowling, and I have full confidence in my team that we will get to see good cricket.”
Pakistan team are coming into this series on the back of their 2-0 series loss at the hands of the home England side, with the rest two games of the series washed out due to persistent rain. On the other hand, the USA have been boosted with confidence with the opening victory, which came after they earned a series win over Bangladesh.
Babar Azam admitted that the conditions will this part of the world will be unknown but believes in his players to give the best.
“The cricket that we have seen so far, there have not been a lot of sixes and fours. The teams are getting dismissed within 100 runs and no one is aware of the conditions as such. But we can just have a look at the stats and see what to expect,” the opening batter of the sub-continent team remarked in the presser. “We mostly have to rely on stats in such situations. We just want the players to step up and play no matter what the conditions are.”
The experienced player also points out that they need to back their strengths and keep a simple plan for the competition to collective success.
“They do have some idea of the conditions, like Imad, Haris and Shadab. They do have some idea as they have played cricket in the USA,” Babar added. “That will help us a lot, and we will take the field while keeping in mind our plan, strengths, and mindset during the T20 World Cup. Hopefully we will play good cricket.”
He left the media saying that he doesn’t have a personal goal, as the aim for the 2009-champions is to win their second title.
“I don’t have any personal milestones for this tournament, my goals are secondary here. Our only goal is to win the World Cup for Pakistan,” Babar Azam concluded.
It will be a huge start of the competition for the Pakistan batting superstar, who replaced Shaheen Shah Afridi in the captaincy position, just two months before the start of the tournament.