‘We will....’ - Babar Azam on plan vs Virat Kohli ahead of marquee India-Pakistan T20 WC clash

Ahead of Pakistan's tour of Ireland and England, white-ball captain Babar Azam opened up on the forthcoming T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA in June. The Men in Green are placed in Group A along with arch-rivals India, Canada, USA and Ireland. They will lock horns with India on June 9 in New York and Babar revealed that the one-time winners will have plans against Virat Kohli, who has an exceptional T20I record versus Pakistan. The right-hander has 488 runs in 10 games versus Babar & Co., averaging a splendid 81.33.

Prior to Pakistan's departure for Ireland and England, Babar was asked on how will they tackle Kohli. He told the reporters in a press conference, "As a team, you always plan against different teams according to their strengths. We don't plan anything against only one player. We plan for all 11 players. We don't know much about the conditions in New York and we will plan accordingly. He [Virat Kohli] is one of the best players and we will plan against him as well."

Also read: Cricket West Indies tightens security after T20 World Cup receive terror threat from North Pakistan

In the 2022 T20 WC, both India and Pakistan were in the same group in the Super 10. The two Asian giants locked horns at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne where Kohli's 82 not out, off 49 balls, propelled Rohit Sharma-led Men in Blue to a memorable four-wicket win, on the last ball of the contest, in chase of 160. Opting to bowl first, the 2007 winners India restricted Pakistan to 159 for 7 with Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh accounting for three wickets each. In reply, India were on the mat and reeling at 31 for 4 before Hardik-Kohli's 113-run fifth-wicket stand turned things around and Kohli ended proceedings in style in a thrilling last over. 

India T20 WC squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashashvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan

Pakistan T20 WC squad: To be announced 

Pakistan will tour Ireland and play three T20Is, in Dublin, from May 10-14 before facing Jos Buttler-led England in four T20Is from May 22-30. Their final T20 WC squad is expected to be out during the England series.