Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam has aimed to win the ICC ODI World Cup, scheduled later this year in India, on the back of his phenomenal batting run in recent years.
Babar, who was recently named ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for the second consecutive time and also won the coveted Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year for 2022, has expressed his wish to lead his team to World Cup glory this year after achieving the prestigious individual accolades.
“The World Cup is coming up and my ambition is to perform well so that we can win it.” Babar told ICC Digital on Friday
“You see lot of things individually too, but my goal right now is to win the World Cup.”
The 28-year-old, who has been ruling the ODI chart since July 2021, is in the top five rankings across each format while his consistent performances earned him a place in the ICC Test Team of the Year besides leading the ICC ODI Team of the Year for the second time in a row.
Babar’s exceptional batting class is much more than just the numbers as it came with the additional burden of captaining the side in all three formats.
Pakistan claimed 14 wins from 26 matches through 2022, including eight out of nine victories in ODIs, under Babar’s leadership. He also led his team to the T20 World Cup final last year.
The Green Shirts have a host of 50-over matches lined up this year, including a five-match series against New Zealand in April-May and the ODI Asia Cup at home in September. Pakistan’s skipper wants to use the upcoming assignments to sharpen the blades before the mega-event in India.
“This year we have lot of white-ball cricket because of the World Cup…you need to take things step by step. You can’t really jump to your goal. You have to achieve it step by step,” said Babar.
“The mindset is to go step by step, but yeah you have it in the back of your mind that you need to perform well. There is hard work and planning behind it,” he added.
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