Pakistan skipper Babar Azam stated that his players will look to take early wickets and put some pressure on India.
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Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has opted to field after winning the toss in the Super 12 Group 2 encounter of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 against India. Azam will be certainly happy having won a crucial toss against arch-rivals Team India, but the Indian team is well capable of pulling off a triumph in any situation. Haider Ali is the player missing out from the 12 players who were announced by Pakistan as being in contention for a spot in the lineup.
Babar stated that his players will be looking to take early wickets and put pressure on the Indian batsmen.
“We are going to bowl first. We’ll look to take early wickets and put pressure. Dew is also a factor. We have had good practice sessions and am confident about our preparations. Pakistan’s bowlers are known to trouble other teams but I am confident about our batting too. Haider Ali is left out,” he stated as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Kohli admitted that he would have opted to field as well, but expressed happiness having been asked to set the target.
“We are pretty happy with setting the target. Would have bowled first too, but the toss is not in your control. We are pretty balanced with our squad and you need to be prepared for it. Need to stay as professional as possible. We need to stay focussed on the processes. Everyone watches it closely all over the world. We can use that as a motivation, but we need to ensure we don’t get too emotional and need to just stay professional. The pitch looks very different. Evenly rolled and there is no grass at all which was the case during the IPL, and I’m sure that was done to hold it together well for the World Cup. We expect the pitch to stay good all through and set a good total. The four not playing are: Rahul Chahar, Ishan Kishan, Ashwin and Thakur,” stated the Team India skipper.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya is not under pressure even in case of a clash against Pakistan.
“I don’t like to get too hyped by the situation, and my family make sure of that too. I stay away from social media because you do get excited and get the vibes. It’s simple, and we leave emotions out of the way, and keep things professional. We make sure we tick the right boxes, and do the processes right. The back is fine, it was jittery, but I won’t be bowling for now. I want to be able to bowl eventually, closer to the knockouts. The professionals and I both have to take the call about when I can have a bowl,” said Hardik.
Lineups:
Pakistan (Playing XI): Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
The opportunity to witness Azam’s men take on the Kohli-led side for the sixth time across seven editions of the T20 World Cup, is being awaited by fans with bated breath. The Pakistan team management has gone in with a mix of youth and experience for the exciting encounter. It will be interesting to see if the same is enough to stop India who are undefeated in 12 ICC T20 and ODI World Cup clashes against Pakistan.
