‘Records meant to be broken’: Babar Azam on PAK vs IND World Cup 2023 clash

Pakistan captain Babar Azam declared Friday that “records are meant to be broken” as his team looks to break free of India’s World Cup stranglehold when the bitter rivals go head-to-head in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match on Saturday.

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India boast a 7-0 record over their neighbours in 50-over World Cups despite Pakistan having a healthy 73-56 overall advantage since their first one-day international clash back in 1978.

“I don’t focus on the past,” said Babar Azam on Friday. “Let’s focus on the thing to come as we know records are meant to be broken.”

“We will try to play well and it all depends on how you play on the day, just like we did in the first two matches,” added the skipper whose side have two wins from two at the World Cup after seeing off the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.

 

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The Pakistan captain said he has told his players that Saturday’s clash inside the 132,000-capacity Ahmedabad stadium is a “golden opportunity” to write their names into World Cup folklore.

“The Pakistan-India match is a big game, high intensity. Every such game is challenging. I have told (the players) it’s the best opportunity to perform. It is a big stadium that can accommodate many fans, it’s a golden opportunity for us to perform in front of these fans,” added Babar Azam.

Under Babar Azam, Pakistan broke a Twenty20 World Cup sequence of five defeats (from 2007 to 2016) against India with a 10-wicket rout at Dubai in 2021.

“Didn’t we break the Twenty20 record? I am not worried about the past.”

Babar Azam also shrugged off the prospect of having virtually all of the 132,000 spectators screaming support for India with no Pakistan fans having been successful in securing visas to cross the border.

“It’s not pressure “We have played at big stadiums like at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). But, yes, all the support, I think, in Ahmedabad will be for India. It would have been better had Pakistan fans been allowed. But I expect fans will also support us as well,” he said.

Pakistan fans from around the world have faced visa glitches due to strained relations between the two countries, who have not played a bilateral cricket series since 2007.

Related – World Cup 2023: Pakistan’s journalists to finally get Indian visa

Pakistan did tour India for limited-over matches in 2012 but that did not revive full tours which stalled in the wake of the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

Babar Azam admitted conditions in Ahmedabad are different from those at Hyderabad where Pakistan played two warm-up matches and their first two World Cup games.

“Yes, the conditions here are different. You are better off at a venue where you have spent a few days but we will adapt,” said Babar Azam whose team beat the Netherlands by 81 runs and Sri Lanka by six wickets.

 

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Babar Azam admitted Pakistan will look for wickets from pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi who has yet to fully fire at the tournament.

Shaheen Afridi has just two wickets from two matches at a cost of 113 runs.

“He is our main bowler. Shaheen [Afridi] himself has a belief that he is a big match bowler,” said the captain.

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