Mickey Arthur: “Our entire new philosophy of playing cricket ‘The Pakistani Way’ revolves around Babar”
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Mickey Arthur, the team director, has announced that Pakistan’s “new philosophy of playing cricket the ‘The Pakistani Way'” will revolve entirely around captain Babar Azam.
Arthur’s backing for Azam shows the trust he has in the 28-year-old to take the team to new heights.
Pakistan have a huge test coming up as they will be travelling to India to play in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
The men in green have only won the 50-over World Cup once, which occurred when Imran Khan captained them to glory in 1992.
“Our entire new philosophy of playing cricket ‘The Pakistani Way’ revolves around Babar,” Arthur was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam has been in good form as of late as he scored 76 runs in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka at an average of 25.33.
Following this, he amassed 113 runs in a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 37.66.
Currently, he is involved in the Asia Cup and has once again led from the front with the bat as he has accumulated 178 runs in four matches, which includes a top score of 151, at an average of 59.33.
Pakistan started their campaign with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was abandoned due to rain.
Having made it through to the Super Four stage, the men in green took down Bangladesh by seven wickets before being dealt their first loss as India crushed them by 228 runs.
Pakistan had a chance to make it to the Asia Cup final, but failed to get the job done as they succumbed to a two-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir