LAHORE: Pakistan’s batting prodigy Abdullah Shafique shared that he feels contented over being praised by captain Babar Azam but his focus remains on improving his performance.

Shafique, while talking to the media on the sidelines of the ongoing national team’s training camp for the ODI series against Afghanistan and Asia Cup spoke highly of Babar Azam and called him “world-class” before revealing that he feels great on being praised by the Pakistan captain.

“Babar Azam is a world-class player, it feels great to be praised by him, however, the effort is to keep improving my performance,” said Abdullah Shafique.

“I have shown good performances in PSL and Test, I am trying to perform well in ODIs,” he added.

Abdullah Shafique, who has been a regular part of Pakistan’s red-ball set-up, enjoyed remarkable success in the recently-concluded two-match away Test series against Sri Lanka while aims to carry his form in ODI cricket.

“Good form helps a player perform well, I have shown good performances in PSL and Test cricket and I am trying to perform well in ODIs,” he said.

“ODI cricket has changed now, and we try to play according to the plan,” he added.

Abdullah Shafique has so far played only three ODIs and managed to score a mere 28 runs, contrasting his test cricket exploits, where he accumulated 1220 runs at an average of 50.83, including his maiden double hundred which came against Sri Lanka in the second Test.

Talking about facing India, he said: “The spirit is different against India, however, as players we focus on our performance.”

Pakistan cricket team’s brief three-day training camp will conclude on August 16 (tomorrow), before the team departs for Sri Lanka on August 17.

An 18-member Pakistan squad will take on Afghanistan in Sri Lanka from 22 to 26 August and it will be trimmed to 17 players for the Asia Cup, commencing on 30th August at Multan Cricket Stadium. Pakistan will face arch-rivals India in Kandy on September 2.

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