Pakistan captain Babar Azam has said that he has been surprised with the welcome that his team has got in India. After arriving in Hyderabad, where they’ve played two warm-up games and are set to play their first couple of games of the tournament, Babar confessed to have had a change of opinion.
“To be honest, we also heard that,” he started off when asked if the reception would be intimidating. “But since the time we arrived in Hyderabad, the kind of hospitality we’ve received and the kind of welcome we had from the airport to the hotel…even in the last match at the ground we felt very good,” he said.
The arrival of Pakistan in India had triggered a lot of speculation on the issue of visas, some of which have been sorted with some journalists as well set to arrive. The possibility of fans coming in across the border is still unclear but Babar wished for it nevertheless.
“It’ll be even better if we have our fans come as well. And hopefully we get that kind of support in every match and at every ground, so looking forward to it,” he said.
The tournament is set to see a record crowd come in when Pakistan take on India in Ahmedabad, and even before that the captain of India sounded optimistic in his message for the other captains in the media event held on the tournament eve.
“Every leader sitting here wants to achieve something really really special for their country and there is something which is highly prized. The 50-over World Cup is always something that I’ve dreamt of growing up as a child and I’m sure it’s the same for all the guys sitting here as well. One thing I can assure, and everyone will know about it, is that people are going to love the tournament here. The stadiums are going to be jam-packed, people here love their cricket. They love their team, but they love their cricket as well but rest assured it’s going to be a very good tournament,” said Rohit Sharma.
The primacy of the ODI World Cup and the format has come for much questioning but both Rohit and New Zealand’s skipper Kane Williamson were emphatic in their views about the tournament.
“I think every four years even with the introduction of T20 World Cups, they’re still major events, the World Test championship as well. But I still think the ODI World Cup, and probably everyone else here shares the same opinion that it’s definitely one of the top events that we can play in the world,” opined Williamson while Rohit threw his weight behind the Indian public’s expectations.
“Everyone’s quite excited. Even before we got into these warm-up games, like a month back every time we were travelling around India, the talks were all about the World Cup. And it is not unusual in India, it’s quite common that any big event that happens here people get really excited. And cricket being the biggest sport in India, I’m not surprised by the excitement that people have. It is not just in one or two cities but it is spread across the entire country. Anywhere we go, the talk is about the World cup. People are excited and obviously its happening after 12 years in India, so all the more reason to be excited,” said Rohit.
