'Aap bata de kaun se achhe hain' - Babar Azam's cheeky reply to a journalist questioning Pakistan's spinners' performance

Pakistan Cricket team will be leaving for India for the ODI World Cup 2023 on Wednesday, September 27. Before leaving for the mega event scheduled to begin from October 05, captain Babar Azam addressed the media and revealed his team’s plans for the World Cup. One of the questions from a media personnel didn’t go down well with the captain.

Babar was asked about the poor show of his spinners ahead of the World Cup. However, the question didn’t go down well with the Pakistan skipper who asked the reporter to tell him who all are good if Pakistan spinners weren’t.

“Sir acche nahi hai to bata de kaun se ache hai. (If they’re not good then tell me who all are good). It’s not like that, you’re looking at it from your point of view, you feel that they’re not good. But for me they’re my best players my best spinners. We start judging them very quickly, I agree they haven’t been at their best in recent times but it doesn’t mean they’re not good. They’re good that’s why they’re playing for Pakistan. I have full faith on them they will perform well in the World Cup,” said Babar in the press conference.

Further speaking ahead, the Pakistan skipper expressed disappointment on Naseem Shah’s absence from the squad due to a shoulder injury. He further revealed that the management chose Hasan Ali as his replacement due to his vast experience.

“Surely, we will miss him a lot. He was bowling with the new ball in three formats and the duo of Shaheen and Naseem together gave a different vibe. Unfortunately, we will miss him we chose to replace him with the best availability we had. It was difficult. We had a long discussion with coach, Mickey Arthur and Inzy Bhai and chose Hasan Ali because he has a lot of experience of playing in World Cups,” he added.

Hasan Ali won the Golden Ball in the Champions Trophy 2017

Notably, Hasan Ali won the golden ball in Pakistan’s 2017 Champions Trophy triumph as he finished as the leading wicket-taker of the tournament. The right-arm seamer picked up 13 wickets from five innings at an average of 14.69 and an economy of 4.29. Meanwhile, Pakistan will start their World Cup campaign with a game against the Netherlands on October 06 in Hyderabad.

However, before the Babar Azam-led side will take part in two warm-up fixtures against New Zealand on September 29 and against Australia on October 03.