Pakistan’s white-ball skipper Babar Azam has spoken positively about his experience of traveling to India and playing in the neighboring country for the first time during the Cricket World Cup last year.
Notably, Babar led the Men in Green during the global showpiece tournament in India. While Pakistan’s performance was not up to the mark, Babar and his men were greeted with warmth and affection in multiple Indian cities.
“Mai India se expect nahi kar raha tha (I was not expecting it from India),” Babar Azam said on Zalmi TV about fans chanting his name in India.
“Mai bilkul nahi expect kar raha tha. Mai first time ja raha tha India mujhe wahaan ka koi knowledge nahi tha (I was not expecting it at all. It was my first time in India and I had no knowledge about the country).
“Maine baat ki thi wahaan ke conditions and all lekin jab hum wahaan utre aur jaisa unhone welcome diya wo outstanding tha (I have spoken to people about the playing condition and all but the welcome we’re given at Hyderabad airport was outstanding),” he added.
Babar mentioned that the Indian fans absolutely loved the Pakistan cricket team throughout their stay in the country.
“Wo ek alag experience tha. Unka pyar tha, logo ne bahut pyar diya humey, bahut appreciate kiya (It was a different experience. It was their love, Indian people gave us so much love, they appreciated our cricket).
“Humare practice matches mey log aaye yaar, pura stadium packed tha. Hyderabad mey pura stadium packed tha (Even in our practice games, people were cheerring for us. The entire stadium in Hyderabad was jam packed,” he said.
Babar also shared his experience of playing against host India at the gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
“It was a different vibe. The entire stadium was sea of blue. You are playing in India you can expect it. But in other venues, we also received expectional support as well,” he said.
When asked about his post-match chat with Virat Kohli, Babar said: “I always try and talk to him whenever we play against each other. I always ask him few questions and he helps me with it. Not only him, I also talk a lot to Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, when we play against Australia and New Zealand, respectively. I had a good chat with Virat Kohli, there are things that we talk about that I can’t share here but it was fruitful.”
Commenting on Indian food, Babar said: “I loved Hyderabadi biryani and the samosa chaat as well. It was unique.”
It is worth mentioning here that Babar Azam had relinquished captaincy from all formats shortly after the conclusion of the 2023 World Cup, in which his team failed to qualify for the knockouts.
In the wake of Babar's resignation, the PCB had appointed Shaheen Afridi as T20I captain while Shan Masood was named the Test skipper.
In his first assignment as Pakistan captain, both Shaheen and Shah endured failures. While Pakistan suffered a 4-1 defeat in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand, the team was whitewashed 3-0 on the Test tour of Australia.
Last month, the PCB sacked Shaheen from the T20I captaincy and reappointed Babar to the role in the white-ball formats.
