Will use Lanka Premier League to prepare for Asia Cup, World Cup: Babar Azam
Aug 06, 2023
Colombo [Sri Lanka], August 6 : Pakistan's star batter Babar Azam has been in fine form and wants to keep scoring runs for Colombo Strikers in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2023, a tournament which he also views as a great experience for him and the other young players in the league ahead of major tournaments, saying that he will use this tournament to tackle some good spinners, which will help him during the Asia Cup and World Cup tournaments later this year.
Asia Cup will start on August 30 and will be hosted jointly by Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with the majority of matches in the island nation. ICC Cricket World Cup will be hosted by India from October 5.
"Whenever you play different leagues, in different conditions you end up learning a lot. I try my level best to perform well. I adapt to different conditions while facing different bowlers from Asia because we have a lot of cricket coming up in Asia. We have Asia Cup, the Afghanistan series and the World Cup as well. I will try to focus, adapt to the conditions, and face good spinners to prepare for these upcoming big tournaments," he said as quoted by an LPL press release.
The Pakistani skipper is part of the Lanka Premier League for the first time and is excited to play the matches as well as adjust his performance ahead of the upcoming series and tournaments.
"This is my first league and I am looking forward to playing all the matches. I joined the team a couple of days back and felt really happy after meeting my teammates. We have a young team and everyone is looking forward to giving their best, improving and performing well for the franchise," commented Babar Azam.
He added, "My mindset is always positive. I will give my 100 per cent to Colombo Strikers. We have a good range of players, a good combination of seniors and juniors on the side. Niroshan Dickwella (Colombo Strikers captain) and I play a lot of cricket together and know each other well. I think 4-5 from the team will be playing for Sri Lanka, that’s good for us, good for their team and good for youngsters to learn new things from experienced senior players. When you share a dressing room with senior players you take positive things."
In three matches so far, Babar has scored 107 runs at an average of 35.66 and a strike rate of above 127. He has struck one half-century in the tournament so far.
Babar Azam's side Colombo Strikers is led by Dickwella, while other participating teams in the league include Dambulla Aura captained by Kusal Mendis, Galle Titans led by Dasun Shanaka, B-Love Kandy captained by Wanindu Hasaranga, and defending champions Jaffna Kings led by veteran Sri Lankan allrounder Thisara Perera.
The teams will be facing each other twice in a round-robin league format in group-stage games, which started from July 30. The top four teams on the points table will qualify for the playoffs which will begin on August 17 and the final will be played on August 20 with August 21 kept as a rain reserve day.
