ISLAMABAD: Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Thursday rubbished reports that Pakistani batters are afraid to face Afghan spinners at Chennai, where the two sides are scheduled to face each other in the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. 

Pakistan are scheduled to play Australia in Bengaluru on October 20 and then Afghanistan in Chennai on October 23. According to an ESPNcricinfo report, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) last month asked the ICC to swap the two venues and let Pakistan play Australia in Chennai and Afghanistan at Bengaluru. 

As per an internal note of the PCB quoted by ESPNcricinfo, the board’s management believes Pakistan would be “obvious favorites” if they played Australia at Chennai and Afghanistan at Bengaluru. The Chennai pitch remains dry, hard and has little grass covering, making it a spin-friendly track. In Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, and Mujeeb ur Rehman Zadran, Afghanistan have one of the most deadly spin attacks in the world. 

“We have always dominated spin in Asia if you take a look at our batters,” Azam told reporters at a news conference. “We’re also practicing a lot on spin, so it’s not like any player is afraid, because you see in the heat of the moment, any bowler can give you a tough time.”

Azam said it is very important for a batter to realize that if a bowler— whether he be a pacer or a spinner— is giving him a tough time, then he should come up with something “different” to put that bowler on the back foot. 

“These are tactics and a bit of planning and you practice it,” Azam said. “All of our players are working on it and you will get to see a different approach against spinners.”

In response to another question, Azam said Pakistan were not focused on only India but nine other teams in the World Cup. 

“We are not focused on only one team, we are focused on nine other teams … wherever our matches are we have to play because as a professional you have to be ready.”