Bullish on future, Babar Azam chooses to ignore Pakistan's World Cup past against India

A lot of things will be stacked against Babar Azam in his very first game as a Pakistan captain in the T20 World Cup with Pakistan scheduled to start their campaign with a clash against their arch-rivals India on October 24.

Pakistan have never defeated India in a World Cup game in their decade-old history of rivalry, but Babar is not looking back on the past and instead is very optimistic about the future.

He accepted that the game against India will be a high-pressure clash but assured that his players will be up to the challenge to break the unassailable record of India over them. 

"I am very happy and proud to go to the T20 World Cup as a captain," he said at Pakistan's pre-departure press conference. We know the pressure and the high intensity of each game, especially the first one. Hopefully, we can win the match and carry the momentum forward."

Babar pointed out that his side have more experience of playing games in the UAE and said that the players are very confident before the tournament. He said that batsmen are aware of the adjustments they will have to make on the pitches in UAE and Oman and made a bullish prediction of winning the high octane clash against India.

"Your belief and confidence as a group matter a lot before a tournament," he said. "As a team, our confidence and morale are really high. We are not thinking of the past but the future. We are preparing for that. I am fully confident that we are well prepared and will play good cricket on the day."

"We've been playing cricket in UAE for the past 3-4 years and we know the conditions really well," said Azam. "We know how the wicket will behave and the adjustments batters will have to make. On the day who plays the better cricket, wins the match. If you ask me, we will win."

Pakistan have brought back experienced players such as Shoaib Malik for the tournament and Babar will bank on their experience to calm the nerves in the dressing room.