Pakistan captain Babar Azam has on Tuesday (November 9) come out in support of struggling batter Fakhar Zaman and pacer Hasan Ali, backing the duo to perform well in the final stage of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE.

He hopes that both Fakhar and Hasan will return to form in the second semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 against Australia on Thursday, November 11, in Dubai.

Babar said of Fakhar's for at a virtual media interaction: “You want 11 players to perform? It doesn't work like that in cricket; three to four players perform in a match. Two batters perform in a game. Every player can't perform in one match.

The way Fakhar is playing, he has been given all the confidence. On his day he can change the game on his own and I have full confidence he will do it in the coming games.”

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On the struggling fast bowler Hasan, Babar said: “I can't think of leaving him out. He is my main bowler. He has won us matches, won us tournaments. Ups and downs are part of anyone's career and when you are a little down you must back your key player and the whole team is behind him. He is mentally very strong and I believe he is a big match player and will deliver in semi-finals.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan is the only unbeaten team in the group stages of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021, but they have not got a lot of runs in the powerplay and Babar said they will look to improve in that area in the semi-final against Australia in Dubai.

Azam signed off by saying, “We do plan to get 45-50 runs in the first six overs but sometimes we are not able to execute. It is important to not lose wickets initially and our middle order can take it up later. In these conditions, we want to get 45-50 runs in the powerplay.”

(With PTI Inputs)