Karachi: 26 October 2021": I interviewed Babar Azam. It was a cordial enough chat, but there was one occasion where he'd allowed irritation to flicker on his face. I'd just asked him if opening alongside Mohammad Rizwan was indeed the most progressive thing Pakistan could do.
"Yes, absolutely," he said, irritated by the audacity of the query. "Look at how well that's gone, at our performances in the past year, at the records he has broken. The year's not done yet and he has already scored the most-ever T20I runs in a calendar year. What more do you need?"
Two men who weren't born the first time India beat Pakistan in a World Cup match had helped Pakistan remove a stone from their shoe that had been chafing away for 29 years.
Kamran Rahmat