‘The goal is T20 World Cup trophy, not win against India’: Iftikhar Ahmed

Pakistan’s middle-order batter Iftikhar Ahmed argued that the goal is to win the T20 World Cup and not just beat India as the two sides will take on each other on June 9 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, United States.

Iftikhar has been a regular part of Pakistan’s T20I squad and he will also travel to Ireland and England which will be the Green Shirts’ last outing before the commencement of the T20 World Cup.

Taking to media on Saturday, Iftikhar expressed that Pakistan have a team capable of winning the World Cup.

“Our target is not India or Canada, we just want to win the T20 World Cup and our team is fully capable of it,” Iftikhar said. “We would have no excuse for not winning the tournament.

“Babar Azam is the best batter in the world. He plays according to the situation of the match.”

He also stated that it is not fair to say that I cannot hit sixes just because I failed to do so in one match.

“Do justice, [I] couldn’t do much for one match and everyone is saying I cannot hit sixes,” Iftikhar added. “It doesn’t matter who hit sixes, the goal is to win the World Cup. If all the players start hitting them, then 500 runs would be made.”

Fakhar Zaman also talked to the press on the same day where he said that the preparations for the World Cup are complete. He also discussed the batting order of the players in the current Pakistani squad.

“Professional players are always ready, our preparations for the World Cup are complete,” Zaman said. “I’m ready to play at number four. For a long time, I have been playing at number six. We keep making changes in the middle-order [but], the inclusion of Azam Khan and Iftikhar has made us better.

“We have not won a big tournament for a long time. We talk in the dressing room that we have reached the semi-finals of tournaments. This time, we plan to cross that line and this is what we have prepared for a long time.”