Islamabad
Pakistan’s limited-overs Skipper Babar Azam aims to take the green-shirts to the top, saying he would fully back the players to take the team to heights.
“My target is to win matches for Pakistan and to take the team to heights and finish at a higher level,” he said while talking to a private news channel.
Babar, who was the leading Test run scorer for Pakistan in both 2018 and 2019 and leading ODI scorer in 2016, 2017 and 2019, said as a captain he would take the players along and back them. “I will talk with the players on how to uplift the team to a higher level and will give them full confidence,” he said.
To a question, he said all players were united and backed each other when someone was unable to perform. “When you get a new responsibility you get a bit under-pressure but as all players were united therefore the pressure doesn’t come that much. I have captained the under-19 and also served as the vice-captain therefore you learn gradually,” he said.
Babar, who as of April 2020 has scored 16 international centuries, five in Test matches and 11 in ODIs, said the best things he liked about the 1992 World Cup winning captain and Prime Minister Imran Khan was that he played attacking cricket and always backed his players. “We need to back and give confidence to the players in order to get good performances,” he said.
Babar, who was named in the ICC ODI Team of the Year in 2017 and 2019, said when you have to achieve your goals you have to come step by step. “There are ups and downs but you learn when you play matches against good teams. I learned a lot in the 2019 World Cup,” he said.
“I learned a lot from my innings against New Zealand in the 2019 Cricket World Cup as how to take the team out of a difficult situation. If you play against good teams and win matches then your confidence level becomes high. And I took that confidence forward,” he said.
He said he analyzed his past innings and keep the positive things in mind. “When you analyze your performances you get many things in mind to what to do and what not in a situation,” he said.—APP
