AB de Villiers: “Pakistan need him in form… for the World Cup”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
AB de Villiers, the former South Africa batsman, has high hopes for Pakistan captain Babar Azam during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India.
His comments come after Azam made five runs in Pakistan’s World Cup opener against the Netherlands, which the men in green won by 81 runs.
De Villiers wants to see the 28-year-old in top form throughout the tournament as he knows how important Azam will be to Pakistan’s chances of potentially winning the tournament.
It should be noted that the men in green have only won the World Cup once, which came back in 1992 when Imran Khan was captain.
“Pakistan need him in form… for the World Cup,” De Villiers said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam recently featured in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka and made 76 runs at an average of 25.33.
He then led the side in their three-match ODI series against Afghanistan and accumulated 113 runs, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 37.66.
His latest assignment was the Asia Cup, where he struck 207 runs in five matches, which included a top score of 151, at an average of 51.75.
Pakistan started the tournament with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India after their match was washed out.
Despite this, they advanced to the Super Four stage and went on to demolish Bangladesh by seven wickets.
Their unbeaten streak was subsequently ended when India thrashed them by 228 runs.
Pakistan still had a chance to progress to the Asia Cup final, but they didn’t get the job done as they lost to Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Next up for Pakistan in the World Cup is Sri Lanka, who they will face on October 10 in Hyderabad.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali
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