KARACHI: Pakistan captain Babar Azam has said the team is focused on playing well throughout the upcoming World Cup and not only against hosts India.

“We are going to play the World Cup, not to play only against India,” Babar said during a press conference here at the National Bank Stadium on Thursday.

Pakistan will start their World Cup campaign in Hyderabad on October 6 against one of the sides to be promoted from the ongoing qualifying tournament. Their second match will also be against a qualifier at the same venue six days later.

The national side’s third fixture will be the high-octane encounter against arch-rivals India at Ahmedabad on October 15 before they go on to play Australia next and the remaining matches against other sides, ending their league stage with the game against England in Kolkata on November 12.

Babar said Pakistan would approach all their nine matches of the league stage with a winning mentality to increase their chances of taking the prestigious trophy.

“Apart from [India], we have to play against nine teams,” he noted. “If we play well against all of them, only then we are going to play in the final.”

The World Cup is set to be staged in India from October 5 to November 19. Whether Pakistan will travel across the border to take part in the showpiece is, however, yet to be confirmed.

Currently, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with the relevant departments of the government is carrying out due diligence as part of a routine process before it gives the green light for Babar and co. to fly to India.

The situation means the players aren’t sure so far if they are going to play the World Cup or not, also not having a clear idea on what venues they will play even if they end up travelling to India.

The Pakistan skipper said his team was prepared for the World Cup and that it was ready to feature at any venue they are asked to play at.

“Wherever there is cricket planned for us, we will play there,” he said. “For us it is always a good challenge to play at different conditions and varying venues and put up a good show.

“As a player, as a captain, I try to perform in all countries, dominate over there and win matches for Pakistan.

‘VICE-CAPTAIN CAN SIT OUT’

Ahead of the big white-ball assignments in the World Cup and the preceding Asia Cup, Pakistan will kick off their 2023-25 ICC World Test Championship campaign with a two-match series against Sri Lanka starting July 16 in Galle.

With conditions in the island nation to support spin bowling, Babar will face a tough decision to play one of two wicket-keeper/batters in Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan.

While Sarfraz showed exceptional show against spin during Pakistan last Test series — against New Zealand in December-January — Rizwan is the vice-captain of the red-ball side.

Babar, however, said he would not be uncomfortable not including Rizwan in the playing XI in the Sri Lanka Test if that’s what the conditions would demand.

“It’s too early to say but I’ll try to prefer to have Sarfraz as my first choice [as wicket-keeper],” he said. “It’s not necessary for the vice-captain to play, it doesn’t affect anything. We will go with the best XI according to the conditions at play.”

Babar said Pakistan will display an “enhanced” approach in Sri Lanka as well as throughout their Test Championship cycle, which will see the side also take on Australia Down Under later this year in three matches.

This may mean Pakistan will increase their scoring rate given how the format is undergoing transformation especially after England came up with their ultra-attacking style of play “Bazball”.

“We are looking to enhance our game by five to 10 per cent,” Babar revealed. “If we’ve gone with a run-rate of three and a half in previous matches, we’ll not try to take that to four.”

In the previous Test Championship cycle, Pakistan failed to capitalise on three series at home against Australia, England and New Zealand. While Australia beat them 1-0, England subjected them with a 3-0 whitewash. The New Zealand series saw both the two Tests end as draws.

“Whenever we start a championship, we look at the positives that we have delivered in the past but what’s more important is where we’ve lacked,” Babar observed.

“We’ve analysed occasions on which we haven’t been able to do well and have tried to work on it. We have identified partnerships as one of the key areas, we think we can make them longer. Bowling also requires partnerships and we are focused on improving that aspect.”

The second Test will be held in Colombo from July 24.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2023