Our record is excellent in UAE, it's the place where we became world No.1: Babar Azam

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is confident and upbeat about his team’s performance for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021, which is scheduled to begin on October 17 in Oman and UAE. Pakistan are placed in Group B alongside India, New Zealand, and Afghanistan.  Over the past few years, the team has done well in the shortest format and has gone on to beat top teams like West Indies, England, and Australia. During this time, the team has also unearthed few players in the form of Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi.

The biggest factor that could probably be helpful for Pakistan doing well during the global event is the matches being played at UAE, a ground and pitch conditions that they know pretty well. The Men in Green have been playing here since 2009 and have hosted many countries for a bilateral series and have also staged the PSL here. The team for a brief while was also ranked number one in the shortest format and hence Azam sounded optimistic about his team doing well during the T20 World Cup.

“Our record there is excellent, it’s the place where we became world No. 1. The performances we produced, both as a team and individually, show the conditions really suited us. Our record and consistency there is proof of that. These days we understand teams are playing more positive cricket, and we need to continue to do that, too,” Azam said as quoted by Sportskeeda.

Babar Azam points out middle order and death bowling as the areas to work on

Pakistan are coming off from a 1-0 T20I series win over West Indies, but they suffered a 2-1 loss against England. During that series, the team’s tactics were questioned and fingers were pointed out to the selection of the team.  Azam also stated that middle-order and death bowling are the two areas, which need improvement.

“We’re struggling in two areas, middle order and death bowling, and have done for some time. We’ve tried different combinations and tried to assess who could suit the team if they played in certain positions. It didn’t work out, unfortunately, but that’s cricket. ”

Earlier Pakistan announced a revised squad for the T20 World Cup and have called Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Shoaib Malik to the team.