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DUBAI: Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has announced a 12-man squad for their T20 World Cup opener against arch-rivals India on October 24 (Sunday) at the Dubai International Stadium.
Addressing a virtual press conference on Saturday, the right-handed batsman named the shortlisted dozen men, from whom the final playing eleven will be picked. From the 15-man complete squad, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Mohammad Nawaz and Sarfaraz Ahmed were excluded.
12-man squad:
- Babar Azam (c)
- Muhammad Rizwan (wk)
- Fakhar Zaman
- Haider Ali
- Muhammad Hafeez
- Shoaib Malik
- Asif Ali
- Shadab Khan (vc)
- Imad Wasim
- Hasan Ali
- Shaheen Shah Afridi
- Haris Rauf
Babar Azam vowed his team would not think about Pakistan’s poor record against India when they meet. “To be honest, what has passed is beyond us,” Azam said during the press conference.
“We want to use our ability and confidence on the day of the match so that we can get a better result. Records are meant to be broken,” the skipper added.
Babar admitted it will be a match full of intensity. “The matches between Pakistan and India are always full of intensity so we need to perform well in all three departments of the game,” he added.
The captain also said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had shared his experiences with the team. “The premier met us before our departure and shared his experiences of the 1992 win and told us to play aggressive and fearless cricket against India,” he added.
The Pakistani team will look to end their losing streak against India at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup when the two rivals begin their title race in a Sunday blockbuster. India have beaten Pakistan in all of their 12 matches at the T20 and 50-over World Cups.
After Sunday’s fixture, Pakistan will play New Zealand on Tuesday, Afghanistan on Friday, while their next week’s matches will be against Namibia on November 2 and Scotland on November 7.
On the ICC T20I Rankings, India is ranked second and Pakistan third, just five points behind. New Zealand, Pakistan’s opponent on Tuesday, is fourth on 257 points.
Apart from mission of beating India for the first time in the ICC T20 World Cup, the other incentive for Pakistan will be their victory will narrow the gap between the two sides to one point with India dropping to 264 points and Pakistan rising to 263 points.
A win on Tuesday over New Zealand will potentially put Pakistan in second place on the ICC T20 Team Rankings.
