T20 World Cup: Babar Azam's pep talk boosted confidence, says Iftikhar Ahmed

• Iftikhar says team is in high spirits ahead of Zimbabwe match.
• Says he tries to contribute regardless of how many balls he is facing.
• All-rounder expresses losing a match is always hurtful.

Pakistan all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed Wednesday said that the post-match pep-talk by skipper Babar Azam and coaching staff after the defeat against India lifted the confidence of players and the team is in high spirits ahead of their second game in T20 World Cup.

Pakistan next plays Zimbabwe at Perth on Thursday and speaking to the journalists ahead of the game, Iftikhar said that Pakistan can’t be complacent against Zimbabwe.

“They are also an international team and we will take them like any other international side, we will give our 100% against them,” he said.

Iftikhar had scored a half-century on Sunday against India but Pakistan had lost the thriller on the last ball. Talking about the game against India, the all-rounder said that losing a match always hurts you.

“When you lose a match, you’re obviously hurt but the way Babar Azam spoke to us after the game has lifted everyone’s confidence and we are looking forward to the next game,” he said.

Talking about his game, the all-rounder said that he plays according to his role and always tries to contribute to the team’s success regardless of how many balls he is getting to face.

“Be it one ball or 10 balls, we all play for the team and try to make our team win matches,” he said, adding that everyone in the middle order is eager and hungry to score runs for the team. 

Iftikhar said that he is working hard to improve his sweep shots and reverse sweep shots as he believes that such shots will help him in Australian conditions.

When asked about critics, Iftikhar said that he takes criticism positively. “What message I can send them, there’s nothing to be said."

He said that every player has his own style of batting and he can not suggest to others how to bat.

“Everyone has his own style, own shots, one can’t tell them what they’ve to adopt,” he said when asked what his message would be for teammates.