Pakistan captain Babar Azam said his team's aim was not to finish in the top four but to win the tournament in India. This is the first time that Babar Azam's Pakistan team will play a match in India.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam set the tone for his side's ambitions, making it clear that their aim was to secure victory at the 2023 World Cup and not settle for a place in the top four.

During the 2023 World Cup preparatory conference in Lahore on Tuesday, Babar was asked if they envisioned finishing in the top four at the mega event.

To this, Captain Babar replied: “Reaching the top four is a small goal for us. We want to emerge as winners. "We didn't have enough time to put together a camp before the World Cup because we had been playing continuously for too long." We wanted to give the players a break so they could come back refreshed and hungry to win. You play well when you have that hunger.”

The 28-year-old acknowledged the honor of representing Pakistan at the World Cup despite the country having never played in India before and expressed that the team was not burdened by undue pressure.

At the press conference before leaving for India, Babar said that the team was not taking much pressure despite this being their first tour of the country.

“We are all proud to be traveling to the World Cup. Although we have never played in India, we are not under too much pressure. We did our research and heard that conditions are similar to other Asian countries. It is a great honor for me to travel as captain this time. I hope we come back with a trophy this time,” said Babar Azam.

Babar also expressed concern over the absence of Naseem Shah from the squad and remained tight-lipped about disclosing who would be entrusted with the new ball duties, highlighting the team's decision to keep their strategies secret at this point in time.

“Of course, we will miss Naseem Shah as having Shaheen [Afridi] and Naseem bowling together gave us a different advantage. It wasn't easy to select his successor but we all sat together and got input from [chief selector] Inzamam ul Haq. We chose Hasan Ali because he has experience. He has participated in the World Cup before,” said Babar.