LAHORE: Pakistan’s white-ball captain Babar Azam on Monday, revealed that the team will do the “best possible planning” to counter India’s batting maestro Virat Kohli at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Arch-rivals Pakistan and India are slated to go face-to-face on June 9 at New York’s Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in the group stage of the upcoming mega event.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Babar Azam, during a press conference here at Gaddafi Stadium ahead of the national men’s team’s departure to Ireland, was asked whether the team would plan differently to counter Kohli.
The star Indian batter holds a phenomenal record against Pakistan, the highlight of which was his unbeaten 82-run knock against the 2009 champions in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup at the sold-out Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
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Babar Azam acknowledged Virat Kohli’s skills and termed him one of the best players in the world before emphasizing the need to plan against all eleven players instead of only one.
“As a team, you always plan against different teams and according to their strengths. We don’t plan anything against only one player. We plan for all eleven players,” said Babar.
“We don’t know much about the conditions in New York and we will plan accordingly. He [Virat Kohli] is one of the best players and we will come up with the best possible planing against him as well,” he added.
The Pakistan captain then went on to reveal that Pakistan will field full-strength Playing XIs in the upcoming series against Ireland and England as the time to prepare for the T20 World Cup 2024 is running short.
“I think there is less time for rotation now because the World Cup is around the corner, and in the remaining matches, we will try to give the team we want to play with in the World Cup a proper opportunity.
“We will sort out whatever our bowling and batting combination is, and we have almost done that. We will play with our best possible XI in the remaining matches.”