Pakistan captain Babar Azam has brushed aside the talk on impending changes in the team’s leadership and said the focus is to win the ODI and T20 series against New Zealand. Babar told a virtual media conference on Thursday that he was completely backing the selected squad.
Asked about his alleged dissatisfaction over the selected team, Babar said that he had given his input as captain as usual and insisted this was not any individual’s team.
“I think the board officials and chief selector have also clarified the position on team selection so for me I am completely backing the side and expect it to do well against New Zealand.”
Babar also made it clear he had been told nothing or heard anything about captaincy changes.
He pointed out that it was a normal thing in the cricket world that a captain had to meet desired goals and live up to expectations.
PCB Chairman, Ramiz Raja, in his first press conference had made it clear that his expectations for Babar as captain were the same as he had with Imran Khan.
Ramiz said since he didn’t know Babar that well on an individual level, it was too early to make his assessment about his all format captaincy.
Babar said when asked about captaincy change rumours: “I have no idea about it so far.”
“We are not taking them lightly at all despite this being our home conditions. They as a nation have done extremely well in ODIs and T20 cricket in recent years and were also finalists of the last World Cup and the World Test Championship final so obviously their depth of talent is good.”
He said if New Zealand had their main players, the series would have been more enjoyable.
