 "Pakistan's Babar Azam (Photo: Reuters)")
Ahead of Pakistan's ICC Cricket World Cup match against arch-rivals India at Ahmedabad, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam talked about his passion for cricket, his role model and what shots he loves playing the most.
India and Pakistan will lock horns against each other at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Men in Blue will be keen to extend their seven-match winning streak against Pakistan while the latter will be looking to end their World Cup duck against Team India.
In a video posted by ICC, Babar said, "Cricket was always my passion. I can hardly remember a day that went by without me giving it time. Coming back from school, I used to play in the street. When I was a ball picker, I went to the stadium for the first time. When I went to the stadium as a player, those memories came back."
Babar said that South African legend AB de Villiers was his role model and he tried to copy him.
"My role model was always AB de Villiers. I used to follow him, watch his videos and copy his shots," said Babar.
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On his favourite shot, Babar said that though cover drive is his favourite, he rates straight drive better in terms of enjoyment and the skill it takes.
"Cover drive is my favourite. But I also like straight drive more because it needs fine balance and you play it to fine deliveries, you have to pick the ball and play accordingly. It takes a lot of practice," said Babar.
His teammates are also full of praise for him.
Pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi said that there are very few players like Babar in this world.
"Babar Azam has achieved a lot of things and a lot is left. We hope he continues scoring runs like he does and leads the team well. Because there are very few players like him," said Shaheen.
The top-order batter Imam-ul-Haq also said, "I am playing since 2017, a great guy, great to international cricket. He has done so well everywhere and in every situation. All Pakistani people and players love him. As a leader, he has improved and groomed himself a lot."
Pacer Haris Rauf said that the way Babar is able to score runs on good balls, it could be disheartening for bowlers.
"He can hit good balls for runs as well. He is the type of batter who can dishearten a bowler and gives the team a boost with a player like that in action," said Rauf.
This match comes after India's two matches against the arch-rivals during a winning Asia Cup campaign. One match, held in the group stage was abandoned due to rain while India registered a thumping win in the next clash during the Super Four stage.
India began their World Cup campaign with a victories over Australia and Afghanistan, while Pakistan has two victories in two matches to build momentum ahead of the major encounter.
Fans will be hoping that megastars of Men in Blue, such as Virat Kohli, skipper Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj keep up with their consistent performances to continue the country's winning streak with Pakistan in 50-over World Cups and come out with 8-0 win against the arch-rivals in the World Cup.
India has dominated the head-to-head record in ODI World Cup matches with 'Men in Blue' winning all seven games against the arch-rival, boasting a 100 per cent win record till now.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
