Pakistan's cricket squad captain says the quality of cricket was good in the last audition matches played by the team
Pakistan’s cricket team captain Babar Azam has termed the National T20 Cup an opportunity for the team to prepare for the T20 World Cup.
In a video message shared by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on their Twitter handle, Azam said that the quality of cricket was very good in the last audition matches played by the team.
“All our national team players participate and play well,” said Azam.
He went on to say that the team will avail this opportunity presented by the National T20 Cup and "try to utilise it as much as they can as it will be in the team’s favour”.
“We try to support our own team and implement what is the best for our teams but in the field we always challenge and compete with each other like in international matches,” said Azam.
The cricketer said that he and his competitor, Shaheen Shah Afridi, will try to play good cricket at their respective ends.
Talking about the players participating in the upcoming National T20 Cup, he said that “the team consists of some of the leading T20 performers and the results will be in our favour”.
He invited cricket lovers to Rawalpindi and watch matches live from the ground to support the players and teams.
On Monday, PCB issued the schedule for the National T20 2021-22 matches that are scheduled to take place from September 23 to October 13.
As per the schedule, the 18 Rawalpindi-leg matches, which were earlier planned for Multan, will now be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium till October 3, while Gaddafi Stadium will remain the venue of the remaining 15 matches that will commence on October 6.
The National T20 Cup is a fiercely contested and highly entertaining tournament. It not only provides opportunities to cricketers to stake claims on the national side, but leading performers get a chance to be included in the PSL Player Draft and then picked up by the franchises.
It will be Babar Azam versus Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan versus Shadab Khan, Sharjeel Khan versus Naseem Shah, Fakhar Zaman versus Shahnawaz Dahani and Hasan Ali versus Imam-ul-Haq during the matches.