Lanka Premier League will help me to prepare for Asia Cup: Babar Azam

Colombo: Star batter Babar Azam has been in fine form and wants to keep scoring runs for Colombo Strikers in the Lanka Premier League 2023, a tournament which he also views as a great experience for him and the other young players in the league ahead of major tournaments.

The Pakistani skipper is part of the Lanka Premier League for the first time and is excited to play the matches as well as fine-tune his performance ahead of the upcoming series and tournaments, according to media release.

"This is my first league and I am looking forward to play all the matches. I joined the team a couple of days back and felt really happy after meeting my teammates. We have a young team and everyone is looking forward to give their best, improve and perform well for the franchise," commented Babar Azam.

He added, "My mindset is always positive. I will give my 100% to Colombo Strikers. We have a good range of players, a good combination of seniors and juniors on the side. Dickwella and I play a lot of cricket together and know each other well. I think 4-5 from the team will be playing for Sri Lanka, that’s good for us, good for their team and good for youngsters to learn new things from experienced senior players. When you share a dressing room with senior players you take positive things."

Babar Azam also stated that the Lanka Premier League 2023 will help him to adapt to different conditions in Asia as many upcoming international tournaments will take place in the Asian subcontinent including ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 and Asia Cup.

"Whenever you play different leagues, in different conditions you end up learning a lot. I try my level best to perform well. I adapt to different conditions while facing different bowlers from Asia because we have a lot of cricket coming up in Asia. We have Asia Cup, the Afghanistan series and the World Cup as well. I will try to focus, adapt to the conditions, and face good spinners to prepare for these upcoming big tournaments," he concluded.

Babar Azam's side Colombo Strikers is led by Niroshan Dickwella, while other participating teams in the league include Dambulla Aura captained by Kusal Mendis, Galle Titans led by Dasun Shanaka, B-Love Kandy captained by Wanindu Hasaranga, and defending champions Jaffna Kings led by veteran Sri Lankan allrounder Thisara Perera. (UNI)