Babar eyes ODI clean sweep
rawalpindi — Pakistan captain Babar Azam has set their sights on sweeping Zimbabwe in the oneday international series that opens their World Cup Super League campaigns from Friday.
The International Cricket Council has introduced the league to bring context to ODI cricket. The seven leading teams in the league will directly qualify for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India. The league features 13 countries playing four home and away three-match ODI series.
“We will try to whitewash them (Zimbabwe) by playing according to our strength,” Babar said by video on Thursday at Pindi Cricket Stadium.
Pakistan boasts just one ODI loss against Zimbabwe in the last 19 games. The streak includes a 2-0 win at home in 2015 when Zimbabwe became the first full ICC member to tour Pakistan since the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore.
Pakistan suffered a setback when Babar’s deputy, Shadab Khan, was ruled out of Friday’s opening match because of a leg injury the allrounder sustained during an intra-squad match in Lahore last week. Uncapped Usman Qadir was in the 15-man squad for the first ODI as cover for Khan, and Babar hopes the legspinning son of the great Abdul Qadir will play up to his domestic standards.
Young fast bowler Musa Khan was also in the squad as backup
to frontline pacemen Wahab Riaz and Shaheen Afridi.
As part of the coronavirus protocols, the games will be without spectators and the teams are in a bio-secure bubble in Rawalpindi and confined to their hotel. They are allowed outside the hotel only for scheduled practices and matches.
“Personally, for me, being in a bio bubble has been one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to go through,” Zimbabwe captain Chamu Chibhabha said. —