All Pakistan-India matches put pressure on players, Babar Azam

Pakistan will play first match of Asia Cup T20 against India on August 28

All Pakistan-India matches create pressure on players, Pakistan cricket team’s skipper Babar Azam has said.

Addressing a pre-departure press conference before heading for The Netherlands, Babar said that although they tried to play such fixtures like a normal match, they still faced pressure.

The Pakistani skipper further said that despite pressure, they tried to keep calm in the T20 World Cup. He said that the squad had always given its fullest on the ground and that the players should have belief in their team.

Pakistan will first travel to Netherlands where a three match series of one day internationals (ODIs) would be played with the host team in Amsterdam from August 16 to August 21.

Team Pakistan will depart for Dubai immediately after the end of Netherlands series for participation in ACC T20 Asia Cup.

Pakistani squad for ACC T20 Asia Cup includes Babar Azam as captain, Shadab Khan as vice-captain, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, and Usman Qadir.

There are two groups in the T20 Asia Cup. Group-A includes Pakistan, India and Qualifier (one team out of United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Honk Kong will qualify). Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been included in Group-B.

Asia cup is scheduled to start on August 27 when first match would be played between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Pakistan and India will come face to face in their first match on August 28 in Dubai. Pakistan will play its second group match on September 2 with the qualifier team.

Super four stage will be played between September 3 and September 9. Top two teams will qualify directly for final that will be played on September 11 in Dubai.