- Babar Azam motivated to take home the title at the ODI World Cup.
- 2023 ODI World Cup will take place in India later this year.
- He received the Sir Garfield Sobers award for the ICC Cricketer of the Year.
Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, is motivated to take home the title at the 2023 ODI World Cup, which will take place in India later this year.
Babar has been ranked as the best ODI batsman by the International Cricket Council (ICC) since July 2021.
The seasoned batter has won the ICC Men’s ODI Player of the Year in each of the previous two years. For his outstanding performance in 2022, he also received the Sir Garfield Sobers award for the ICC Cricketer of the Year.
Babar hopes to follow in the footsteps of previous Pakistan captain and World Cup victor Imran Khan and win the 13th ODI World Cup this year, though, after taking home a number of individual honours.
“The ambition is to be a part of the World Cup team and to win the tournament,” Babar told ICC Digital on Friday. “The World Cup is coming up and my ambition is to perform well so that we can win it. You see lot of things individually too, but my goal right now is to win the World Cup.”
In their nine ODI games in 2022, Pakistan lost just one.
The Men in Green will be well-prepared for the World Cup thanks to the several 50-over cricket matches they have coming up in the upcoming months.
Prior to the main tournament, Pakistan will play New Zealand in a five-match 50-over series in April and May. New Zealand finished second in the 2019 ODI World Cup.
The ODI Asia Cup, which is scheduled to take place in September, will also be held in Pakistan.
“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,” Babar said.
“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.
The eighth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which is set to begin on February 13, is Babar’s first goal before turning his attention to the national team. In the PSL 8, the player will captain Peshawar Zalmi, his new team.
The Yellow Storm will face the Karachi Kings on February 14 at the National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi to begin their PSL season.
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