Pakistani batter Babar Azam has urged fans to stop calling him ‘King’. He said there is a lot more for him to achieve and that the focus should be on the team’s performance and not on personal titles.
He expressed his views while talking with the media at the National Stadium of Karachi following the match against South Africa. Pakistan registered a thumping victory against South Africa, in a Tri-nation series, played on Wednesday in Karachi. Babar said “Please stop calling me King. I am not King, I am not there yet. There are new roles for me now”.
The green shirts registered a record ODI chase of 353 runs set by South Africa. The invincible partnership of Salman Ali Agha and Muhammad Rizwan of 206 runs cruised Pakistan to the historic run chase in the ODI.
Talking to media, Babar Azam said, fans can discuss the titles once he leaves cricket. He said currently he is focusing on the new role given to him in the team. “The team had a plan, and I stuck to it. Agha and Rizwan played brilliantly today,” Babar remarked.
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He said whatever he has done is in the past and that every match is a new challenge. “Whatever I have done before is in the past. Every match is a fresh challenge, and I must focus on the present and future,” he added.
Salman Agha’s maiden ODI century and Mohammad Rizwan’s fourth led Pakistan to their highest successful chase in ODIs, securing a spot in the tri-series final against New Zealand on Wednesday. The duo, serving as Pakistan’s captain and vice-captain, put together a record-breaking fourth-wicket stand of 260 runs—the highest against South Africa and the fourth-highest in a chase. South Africa had never previously conceded such a large total in a successful chase.
Pakistan outshone strong performances from Temba Bavuma, who posted his highest ODI score since September 2023, as well as Matthew Breetzke, who set a record for most runs in the first two ODIs of his career (233), and Heinrich Klaasen, who registered his fourth consecutive 80-plus score in what became the highest-scoring encounter between these two teams.