Babar Azam: “As a team, we are very excited to play Archer because we played [well against him] in the past. If you look, we have bowlers with similar pace like Haris Rauf, Shaheen, and Amir. We are facing them every day so, we are not [afraid], we are excited”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said fast bowlers Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Amir have “similar pace” to England speedster Jofra Archer.
Archer made a comeback in the ongoing four-match T20I series against Pakistan after a lengthy spell on the sidelines with injury.
Azam made it clear that neither he nor the other Pakistan players are afraid of facing Archer’s blistering pace since they play against Rauf, Afridi and Amir regularly.
“As a team, we are very excited to play Archer because we played [well against him] in the past,” the 29-year-old was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“If you look, we have bowlers with similar pace like Haris Rauf, Shaheen, and Amir. We are facing them every day so, we are not [afraid], we are excited.”
Pakistan are currently 1-0 down in the series going into the third T20I against England on May 28.
After the England series, Pakistan will feature in the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will take place in the West Indies and United States of America from June 1 to 29.
Pakistan’s first T20 World Cup game will be against the United States of America in Dallas on June 6.
Pakistan Squad for Ireland and England T20I Series: Babar Azam (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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