Despite questions over Pakistan’s qualification for the World Cup, Captain Babar Azam believes that the “dominant” victory over New Zealand in the one-day series will position his team well for the tournament.
In the five-match series, the hosts prevailed against New Zealand with a score of 4-1, and as a result, they made their first ever appearance atop the one-day rankings for a brief period of time.
Azam became the fastest player to 5,000 runs in ODIs on his way to scoring his 18th century in the format while Pakistan scored 337 in the second match, which was their second-highest successful chase in one-day internationals. Pakistan’s total was their second-highest successful chase in one-day internationals.
Meanwhile, opening batsman Fakhar Zaman made history by scoring hundreds in all three of Pakistan’s most recent one-day internationals. This solidified Fakhar Zaman’s position in Pakistan’s top three, which also includes opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq.
Because of the ongoing conflict with India, Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup, which will take place in October and November, is now in question. Azam was in a jovial mood despite the fact that he had lost the championship bout the previous day.
“Winning the series is great, and so is achieving number one ranking, which has put us in a good position for the World Cup,” said the skipper of the team. “But what’s even better is achieving number one ranking,” he said.
When Azam was asked if the Pakistan squad was concerned about the uncertainty, he responded by saying, “We can’t say anything about that, but wherever we get a chance to play, we will play.”
The dispute has been going on since India made the announcement the year before that it would not send a team to Pakistan to compete in the Asia Cup in September, which takes place a month before the World Cup. As a direct result of this, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has indicated that they may withdraw from the World Cup.
On the other hand, there are indications that the freeze is beginning to break. The Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari traveled to India last week to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting that was held in Goa. This was the first time that a top Pakistani official has been to India in a number of years.
Azam refused to accept the notion that New Zealand would be an easy team to overcome since they were missing eight of its finest players, most of whom were required to play in the Indian Premier League.
According to Azam, “You don’t play an international team thinking that they are a junior team,” and this is sound advice.
“In order to beat an international team, you have to give your all,” we said after our victory, “so we played better and dominated.”
In Rawalpindi, Pakistan won the first two matches by a score of five and seven wickets, and then in Karachi, they won the following two matches by a score of 26 and 102 runs. The championship match was likewise played at Karachi, and New Zealand won by a score of 47 runs. Despite the outcome of the series, Stand-in New Zealand Skipper Tim Latham stated that the competition was beneficial.
“We wanted to expose players to different roles, and I think it was a great opportunity for all of them to experience these conditions,” he added. “I think it was a great opportunity for all of them to experience these conditions.”
Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s usual captain, suffered a knee injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL). As a result, it is likely that Williamson will be unable to play for New Zealand at the World Cup. Both of the most recent World Cups, in 2015 and 2019, saw New Zealand finish in second place.