When I leave cricket, I want to give my country a rich legacy which can serve Pakistan cricket for 10-15 years: Babar Azam

Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam has expressed his desire to leave behind a rich legacy that can be cherished for the next 10 to 15 years. He wants to build an inspirational national squad by trying different team combinations, leading up to the T20 World Cup later this year.

The 27-year-old batter has already broken a hefty number of records individually but he wants to establish himself as an inspirational leader by leading Pakistan, to winning the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. He also said that it will be difficult to build such a team with the same approach but not impossible. Hence, players will be given chances and new combinations will be tried until the best possible squad gets identified for the mega event.

Speaking in an interview with Dawn on Tuesday, Babar told: “We have a hectic international schedule this year during which we will test different combinations as part of our preparations for the T20 World Cup in order to field the best team,” He has a dream of winning the upcoming T20 World Cup. Hence, he added: “When I was made [T20] captain [in 2019] my dream was to prepare a team which could brighten the name of Pakistan for many years to come. When I leave cricket I want to give my country a rich legacy which can serve Pakistan cricket for the next 10-15 years.”

West Indies play bold cricket and can upset every team on a given day: Babar Azam

Apart from this, he heaped praises on batters like Abdullah Shafique as he is very impressed with the youngster’s batting style. Pakistan’s skipper further said that there will be no complacency against West Indies in the upcoming three-match ODI home series next month.

“I personally watch and definitely enjoy Abdullah’s stylish batting. He plays very clean, his stance and the way he ducks the ball are impressive. Usually, we compare him to Kane Williamson and Rahul Dravid. We call him Dravid,” he added.

“They (West Indies) play bold cricket and can upset every team on a given day. Therefore, we will try our best to go for big wins in order to earn maximum points to make Pakistan strong for the [50-over] 2023 World Cup.”