Babar Azam, who was recently reinstated as Pakistan’s white ball skipper, has opened up on his experience of playing in India during the 2023 ODI World Cup, and said that he got more warmth than he expected during his stay in the country.

“I was not expecting it from India (Mai India se expect nahi kar raha tha). I was not expecting it at all. It was my first time in India and I had no knowledge about the country (Mai bilkul nahi expect kar raha tha. Mai first time ja raha tha Indian mujhe wahaan ka koi knowledge nahi tha),” Babar said.

The seasoned top-order batter spoke highly of the welcome accorded to the Pakistan cricket team during their stay in Hyderabad for their initial few games of the World Cup.

“I have spoken to people about the playing condition and all but the welcome we’re given at Hyderabad airport was outstanding (Maine baat ki thi wahaan ke conditions and all lekin jab hum wahaan utre aur jaisa unhone welcome diya wo outstanding tha),” he said.

“It was a different experience. It was their love, Indian people gave us so much love, they appreciated our cricket (Wo ek alag experience tha. Unka pyar tha, logo ne bahut pyar diya humey, bahut appreciate kiya).

“Even in our practice games, people were cheerring for us. The entire stadium in Hyderabad was jam packed (Humare practice matches mey log aaye yaar, pura stadium packed tha. Hyderabad mey pura stadium packed tha),” he added.

Describing his experience of playing against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Babar said it gave a different vibe as they were playing in front of a vociferous partisan crowd in favour of the home side.

“It was a different vibe. The entire stadium was see of blue. You are playing in India you can expect it. But in other venues, we also received exceptional support as well,” he said.

When asked about his post-match interactions with Virat Kohli, Babar said: “I always try and talk to him whenever we play against each other. I always ask him few questions and he helps me with it. Not only him, I also talk a lot to Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, when we play against Australia and New Zealand, respectively. I had a good chat with Virat Kohli, there are things that we talk about that I can’t share here but it was fruitful.”

Under Babar, the Pakistan team failed to reach the semifinals of the World Cup last year, and subsequently he had stepped down from the leadership role after the team’s dismal show. Besides the loss against India, the Men-in-Green also went down to Afghanistan, which came as a big blow to their fans.

However, Babar was again reinstated as Pakistan skipper in ODIs and T20Is, replacing Shaheen Shah Afridi as T20I skipper after another poor run in their recent series. In Tests, Shan Masood will continue to lead Pakistan.