Veteran India opener Gautam Gambhir has predicted that Pakistan captain Babar Azam will set the stage on fire in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. Babar, who is ranked 1 ODI batter, will be leading the Pakistan team for the first time in ODI World Cup but he has decent enough of captaining the side in the ICC events with the last two T20 World Cups. However, it will be the first time when Babar will travel to India to play cricket.
The Pakistan captain has been consistently scoring well in the 50-over format in the past few years but his ODI record against India is not that good. He has scored 168 runs in 7 matches and is yet to hit a half-century against them.
Recently, the right-handed batter started the Asia Cup 2023 on a strong note by playing a handful of innings of 151 runs against Nepal.
However, he failed to continue the momentum forward in the other matches but stood out as the lone batter for Pakistan. It was one of the biggest reasons for Pakistan not make it to the final of the Asia Cup. India beat both Pakistan and Sri Lanka to advance to the final and then beat Sri Lanka again to lift the trophy for a record 8th time.
Talking to Star Sports, Gambhir named, “Babar Azam”, when he was asked to name the player he is most looking forward to seeing at the World Cup.
“Babar Azam can set this World Cup on fire. I have seen a lot of players with so much time to bat. I think that Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root are there, but Babar Azam has a different level of quality,” said Gambhir.
Ranked No. 1 in the ODI format of cricket, in 2023, Babar has scored 745 runs in 15 innings with a marvellous average of 49.66 comprising 2 centuries, and 6 fifties.
He is ranked 3 in T20Is behind India’s Suryakumar Yadav and teammate Mohammad Rizwan while he attains the fourth spot in the Test rankings led by New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson.
Pakistan will play two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Australia before starting off their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on October 6. The tournament begins with last year’s finalists England and New Zealand squaring off against each other a day earlier in Ahmedabad.
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