World Cup is in the past and we need to move on: Babar Azam

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam wants his team to move on from the defeat in the 2021 World Cup semifinal and focus on the future. The Men in Green remained unbeaten throughout the Super 12s stage but lost the semifinal against Australia in a heartbreaking fashion. 

Pakistan are currently in Bangladesh and are scheduled to play three T20Is, starting Friday (November 19), and two Tests. “The World Cup is in the past and we need to move on from it and move forward looking into the future keeping the momentum that we gathered," said Babar.

"Certainly it was disappointing to lose in the World Cup and the whole team got hurt. We have discussed our mistakes and the whole team is confident and we have full faith among us. I have tried not to break the momentum that we got from the World Cup and look, this is the time when we need to back our cricketers.

"The cricketers are experienced enough and understand these things (losing in the World Cup semi-final) and now we have to move forward."

Pakistan have rested all-rounder Imad Wasim and hard-hitting batter Asif Ali for the first encounter. Babar wants his team to carry forward the momentum that they gained during the World Cup and also said that they will keep trying out different combinations to test their bench strength.

"We want to continue the World Cup momentum. We are trying to play a different combination so that we can try out our bench strength. We have West Indies tour next and probably there are six matches so we want to try out different players

"You cannot keep aside the momentum that we got and rest the main players. There are Test matches as well and it is their home series so you cannot take them easy though they are missing a couple of their key players (Shakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim). They are seasoned cricketers and they play in the BPL so we cannot take them easily."

Talking about Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez’s future, Babar said: “It's too early to say with whom we will go for the next World Cup as we will be planning about it after sitting with the selectors. We have to discuss a lot of things. We are now planning series by series and only think about the World Cup when we sit together to discuss about it.

“In the World Cup we played like a unit and the way guys responded and we have to continue with it. The clarity of role is very important and when it is done you can play accordingly and that is what we are trying.”

Babar accepted that the run-scoring in Dhaka won’t be easy and Pakistan will continue to bat with the similar approach they adapted in the UAE. 

“As far as I understand, the wicket will not be the same as the UAE. We have to keep our wickets in hand so that we can push in the end. In the World Cup we tried to accelerate in the last seven to eight overs and the planning will be the same. The more we keep our wicket intact we have better chances.”