Babar Azam heaps praise on Haider Ali, Abdullah Shafique

Pakistan’s limited-overs captain Babar Azam, while talking in a virtual press conference on Thursday, heaped praises on the rising youngsters of the Men in Green, Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafique.

The prolific batsman believed that the duo were very different in their approach while claiming that the side had included some outstanding youngsters. Although, it must be noted that both, Shafique and Ali, are not part of the Pakistan squad for the first ODI against Zimbabwe.

“Their [Haider and Shafique] future looks really bright. I like them very much. They both possess different techniques. Haider plays aggressively and tries to play at an impressive strike rate. Shafique takes his time but plays his natural game once he is in. He tries to dominate. Both are different but the youngsters that we have are outstanding,” said Azam.

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The 26-year-old stated that he would use his experience leading the Twenty20 International (T20I) side while serving as the captain for the One-day International (ODI) side.

“In T20Is, you always try to play aggressively. You need to make quick decisions. On the flip side, players get some time in ODIs. This will be my first series and I will try to apply my experience leading in T20Is to ODIs. My philosophy is simple, if you back and support your players completely then they will give you 110 percent. We will work hard for good results,” he said.

The right-hander was also looking forward to the series against Zimbabwe, which begins with the first ODI on Friday in Rawalpindi.

“We had a domestic tournament before the Zimbabwe series. We are very confident and will try to get a great start which could benefit us in the next series as well. We will aim for a good start and a great finish. We are currently focused on the ODIs which will be played first,” he said.

“We will think about the T20Is when we play them. Because we will be playing back-to-back series, our performances here will be very important. You cannot take any team lightly in international cricket. They have experienced players with them. We will try to give our 110 per cent in the field,” he added.