Babar Azam’s unbeaten century guided Pakistan to a much-needed six-wicket win over New Zealand. With seven points from seven matches, the team is still in the hunt for a spot in the semifinals.
Babar interacted with the media after his power-packed knock.
Excerpts
On the importance of his century and guiding the team home…
It was in my mind that I was not being able to finish a match. The plan was to steady partnerships — first with [Mohammad] Hafeez bhai and then with Haris [Sohail]. We wanted to carry it as long as we could.
REPORT | Six-wicket win
On the nature of the wicket…
It was a difficult pitch. Yeah, it was difficult to bat on as it was spinning a lot. Hafeez and I had a plan that we have to play the spinners well, and then attack the fast bowlers.
On the next couple of must-win matches…
We are very focused on this thing. Hafeez, Babar, Shaheen [Afridi] — everybody contributed a lot today. We are confident and we are taking match by match, and hopefully we will qualify.
HIGHLIGHTS | NZ vs PAK
On the uncanny resemblance to the 1992 World Cup campaign…
We aren’t talking about it. We are just focusing on our game. All the remaining games are do-or-die matches and we need to win them. So, that’s the only focus.
On how things are improving
Things are getting better. We have the confidence that somebody or the other will step up in crunch situations. We believe in each other and we know that we need to work on smaller things in the fielding department.
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