Pakistan batter Fakhar Zaman has named his favourite batting partner across formats while playing for the national side.
The 34-year-old, while talking to a local sports platform, named white-ball captain Babar Azam as his preference for batting.
He hailed Babar's ability to effortlessly rotate the strike and ease the pressure during matches.
"I have played Tests, ODIs, and T20s, and I have also batted with about 11 or 12 partners. The experience has been different in each format, but honestly, I enjoy batting the most with Babar Azam," Fakhar said.
"Babar minimises dot balls, so there's less pressure on me. Even though I play aggressively, my job is to make the game easier for the non-striker. Whenever I have played with Babar, I feel that he makes it easier for me as well because it's not necessary to score runs by hitting boundaries every time, the way he rotates the strike or capitalises on loose balls for boundaries brings me joy and makes playing with him a delightful experience," he added.
It must be noted that Fakhar is part of the T20I squad for the five-match series against New Zealand, starting from April 18.
The Men in Green are in line to play 12 T20I ahead of the World Cup. They are hosting New Zealand first and will then travel to Europe for matches against Ireland and the reigning T20 World Champions, England, in May.
Pakistan squad for New Zealand T20Is
Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan (wk), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Irfan Khan Niazi, Usama Mir, Zaman Khan
Reserves: Haseebullah, Mohammad Ali, Agha Salman, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Wasim Jr
New Zealand squad:
Michael Bracewell (c), Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Lister, Cole McConchie, Zak Foulkes, Jimmy Neesham, Will O’Rourke, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert (WK), Ish Sodhi
Pakistan vs New Zealand T20I series schedule
April 14 — New Zealand arrive in Pakistan
April 16-17 — Training/practice
April 18 — 1st T20I, Rawalpindi
April 20 — 2nd T20I, Rawalpindi
April 21 — 3rd T20I, Rawalpindi
April 25 — 4th T20I, Lahore
April 27 — 5th T20I, Lahore
- Fakhar Zaman
