India and Pakistan will resume their cricket rivalry when they clash against each other in the high-voltage ICC World Cup 2023 match on October 15. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, who will be playing his first international match in India, tuned down the volume from the India-Pakistan fixture and wants his team to focus on the other eight teams as well.
Pakistan last played in India during the 2016 T20 World Cup and last faced their arch-rivals during the 2019 ODI World Cup in India. Fans from both nations are set to witness bitter rivalry once again in the ODI World Cup in India and the cricket fraternity is already shading big limelight on this particular fixture.
But Babar played down the India-Pakistan game hype while speaking to ICC and said that his team will equally focus on the other eight participating teams.
"We are going to play World Cup and not just going to play against India only," Babar said. "There are eight other teams and it's not only India and only if we beat them then we will make it into the final. We are not focused on only one team, we are focused on all other teams in the tournament. Our plan is that we have to play well against all of them and win against them."
Pakistan will face India in Ahmedabad and play other teams at four different venues Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Babar talked about playing in different environments and wants his team to adapt to different conditions instead of focusing on only one game (India-Pakistan).
"You prepare yourself for different conditions and in every environment and that is what we call a challenge and you take it to live up to it,” Babar added. “Me, as a player and captain, I aspire to score runs in every country, dominate and win Pakistan games. So this is all we have in mind and not only that we're going to play against one team."
