During the press conference that took place the day before the Twenty20 World Cup final, the Pakistan captain Babar Azam was asked a question that was awkward for him. The Pakistan media manager stepped in after hearing a query about the Indian Premier League.
During the Twenty20 World Cup in 2022, Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam was able to find form just in time. After having a difficult time scoring runs for the majority of the tournament, Babar was able to finally reach the half-century mark during Pakistan’s victory over New Zealand in the tournament’s semi-final match.
Nevertheless, Babar was confronted with an awkward question from a journalist during the press conference that took place the day before the championship match.
The Pakistan captain found the question to be so unpleasant that he was mute for a short period of time, which prompted the media manager to step in and help.
Babar Azam was under fire for virtually the entirety of the tournament, both for the paucity of runs that he scored with his bat and for some of the mistakes that he made as captain.
A journalist wanted to know from Babar, in light of the type of campaign Pakistan has had up to this point, if he believed that playing in the Indian Premier League would have been helpful for both him and his squad.
In the press conference, the journalist posed the following question to Babar: “Talk about the positives of playing in the IPL; is that something you feel would have benefitted you and your team; and is that something for which you have any hope for the future?”
Babar didn’t respond with a single word to the inquiry and instead started staring at the team’s media manager, who then took over the conversation.
The manager of the media department stated that “We are taking questions about the World Cup final at this time.”
When Babar was asked about his feelings leading up to the championship match against England, the Pakistan captain responded that he was more enthusiastic than nervous in the lead up to the showdown for the championship.
“Since we’ve played so well in our last three matches, I’m feeling more excited than anxious about this one. There is no denying the existence of pressure, but the only way to neutralise its effects is to have self-assurance and faith in oneself. And it is impertinent that one needs do so in order to achieve good outcomes “he replied.
“The victory that England achieved over India to go to the finals demonstrates that they are a very competitive team. We intend to achieve success in the finals by adhering to our game plan and relying on the speed of our attack as a source of competitive advantage “he continued.
There are a lot of parallels to be drawn between Pakistan’s performance in the ODI World Cup in 1992 and their performance in the T20 World Cup in 2022. It would be very important to Babar to clear the last obstacle and win the prize.