Babar Azam has dominated the 50-over format like no other in the last two years but there is one thing that he dearly wants to achieve – leading Pakistan to the ODI World Cup title in India later this year.

Babar has been occupying the No. 1 position in the ICC ODI batting rankings since July 2021. He recently bagged the ODI Player of the Year honour for the second successive year.

Amid the personal accolades, team success is what the Pakistan skipper actually strives for and he will get another opportunity to clinch an ICC trophy in October-November this year.

"The ambition is to be a part of World Cup team and to win the tournament," Babar told ICC Digital when asked what his career ambition was.

"The World Cup is coming up and my ambition is to perform well so that we can win it. You see lot of things individually too, but my goal right now is to win the World Cup," he added.

It wasn't just from an individual capacity that Babar Azam flourished in 2022. He also led his team from the front, registering only one loss from nine ODIs throughout the year.

Pakistan have a number of 50-over matches lined up over the coming months that will help them prepare for the World Cup.

“This year we have a lot of white-ball cricket because of the World Cup…you need to take things step by step,” Babar noted.

“You cannot really jump to your goal. You have to achieve it step by step. The mindset is to go step by step, but yeah you have it in the back for your mind that you need to perform well. But there is hard work and planning behind it,” he stated.

(With ICC Inputs)