LAHORE: Despite odds being stacked against himself and his team, Pakistan captain Babar Azam has his eyes set on nothing less than the World Cup trophy.

At the turn of this month, the national team was celebrating becoming the number one team in the world. In the Asia Cup that followed, Pakistan finished fourth in the six-team event, placed under Bangladesh in the regional event.

A 228-run drubbing by arch-rivals India and an agonising two-wicket loss against a depleted Sri Lankan side in the Super Four stage exposed Pakistan’s glaring weaknesses.

To make things worse, they lost a premium pacer in Naseem Shah to a shoulder injury, which, as it emerged, was a result of mismanaged workload.

Additionally, the team’s players are yet to sign central contracts, which were offered to them nearly four months ago but disagreements with the Pakistan Cricket Board over a number of clauses have caused a delay.

With all of this making up Pakistan’s build-up to an event as big as the World Cup, Babar and company’s lack of experience of playing in India is going to make the side’s ambitious pursuit of the title extremely challenging.

For the Pakistan skipper, though, even a semi-final finish is unacceptable. He wants to bring the trophy home.

“The top-four is a small goal for us,” Babar, with a smirk on his face, said in a press conference on Tuesday, ahead of the team’s departure to India for the 50-over showpiece. “We want to come out as winners.”

Babar was not ready to dismiss the effort of his men to rise to the top of the ICC ODI team rankings. The batter admitted the more significant part of the Asia Cup was a horror for Pakistan, but was of the view that the World Cup would be a different ball-game.

“Before the last two games in the Asia Cup, we were doing really well with the same team,” he said. “Although we could not deliver the way we could, but we have learnt from our mistakes, as individuals and as a team.

“Asia Cup was a different tournament, World Cup is entirely different, so we will plan accordingly.”

Babar’s captaincy, as well as the capability of his players to perform in big tournaments was questioned after the Asia Cup debacle. A number of fans and former players were calling for big changes in the team, before speculations were put to bed when the squad was retained almost in full.

Babar, while identifying a few issues with the side, said the decision was good for the team’s unity.

“We know we have lapsed in fielding and in our wicket-taking abilities in the middle overs but we are going to work on it and hopefully will not be repeating them as we have made plans accordingly,” he noted.

“I believe in my 15 men more than I believe in myself. Whatever team you make, you should know what your core is. I know who my players are — the ones who would be willing to put a fight — and I believe in them blindly.

“There are ups-and-downs always but making changes does not help the team unity.”

The only change in the Pakistan squad from the Asia Cup was that of Naseem, who was replaced by Hasan Ali. Babar said Naseem’s injury was unfortunate, but that he believed in Hasan’s ability to deliver due to his experience.

“Of course we will miss Naseem Shah as Shaheen [Shah Afridi] and Naseem bowling together gave us a different edge,” he observed.

“We went with Hasan Ali because he has experience. He has played the World Cup before.”

After playing two warm-up mat­ches and their opening World Cup fixtures against Netherlands and Sri Lanka in Hyderabad — where they are scheduled to land on Wednesday night — Pakistan will fly to Ahme­dabad for the box office clash against archrivals and hosts India at the 132,000-seater Narendra Modi Stadium.

It will be biggest test for the Pakistan players in a country where they have never played before.

“Although we have not played in India before, we are not taking too much pressure,” said Babar. “We have done our research and we have heard the conditions are similar to how they play out in other Asian countries.

“I am excited to play in Ahmedabad as it will be jam-packed.”

It’s not all about pressure, though. There is an element of excitement surrounding the Pakistan team members about their trip to India.

“I have heard that the fans in India also show their love, although I have not experienced that as of yet but I am excited to play in India as well.”

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2023