Pakistan captain Babar Azam has backed his star players before the vital clash against Australia. The unbeaten Pakistan in the semi-final will have their eyes on beating the Aussies to reach the final of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Azam has backed his struggling players like Fakhar Zaman and Hasan Ali who have not been in the best of forms so far in the tournament. The 28-year-old has said that these players are big-game players and are going to come good in the knockout stage.
“You want 11 players to perform? It doesn’t work like that in cricket, three to four players perform in a match two batters perform in a game. Every player can’t perform in one match. The way Fakhar is playing, he has been given all the confidence. On his day he can change the game on his own and I have full confidence he will do it in the coming games,” the captain said in a media interaction ahead of the semi-final.
Hasan has taken wickets but leaked runs in death overs but Azam is not bothered by his performances.
“I can’t think of leaving him out. He is my main bowler. He has won us matches, won us tournaments. Ups and downs are part of anyone’s career and when you are little down you must back your key player and the whole team is behind him,” he added.
On the other hand, the no.3 batter Zaman is due for a big score. Even against minnows Scotland and Namibia he managed only single-digit scores.
“He is mentally very strong and I believe he is a big match player and will deliver in semi-finals," Azam backed the hero of Champions Trophy 2017 final.
In the current T20 World Cup, Pakistan have been the only side that remains unbeaten. Under the leadership of Azam, Pakistan have won all their five Super-12 games and have finished at the top of Group 2. However, there is one area where the skipper thinks there is a lot of room to improve.
"We do plan to get 45-50 runs in the first six overs but sometimes we are not able to execute. It is important to not lose wickets initially and our middle order can take it up later. In these conditions, we want to get 45-50 runs in the powerplay,” the skipper said.
