Lahore -  Right-hand batsman Babar Azam has said that his focus is on delivering for the country for which he is starving hard.

Talking to the reporters here at the Gaddafi Stadium during the practice session ahead of their tour to West Indies, Babar said that his focus was on producing good performances for Pakistan. “My focus is on delivering for Pakistan and that’s my main objective.”

Babar Azam looks confident for the upcoming series against West Indies. The 22-year-old had outperformed in Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2017 while playing from Karachi Kings. He said that the team was focused on improving rankings in the 50-over format. “The team’s atmosphere was and still is very good. As a team, our focus is to improve our rankings in the ODI format, where we are number eight.”

Earlier, Umar Akmal had said that the right person to be compared with the Indian batting talent was Babar Azam and not him. When Babar was asked about it, he said that he and Kohli were two different batsmen with their own styles. “I have my own batting style and don’t want to be compared with Kohli.”

Babar also said that he was practicing his bowling apart from facing other bowlers in the training nets. He wishes to play as an all-rounder in the future. “I will be happy to deliver for my country as an all-rounder, for which I am working very hard in the nets.”

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur also praised Babar calling him an exceptional player to be. He then called him as a good as Virat. “He’s a young gun, who will be an exceptional player,” said Arthur. “I will go so far as to say, at the same age, I reckon, he is as good as Virat Kohli, which I know that’s high praise but he’s right up there.”

Meanwhile, young pacer Hasan Ali also shared his views with the journalists and revealed that the veteran fast-bowler Waqar Younis had always been his ideal. “Waqar Younis is my all time favourite bowler and I have grown up watching the brutal, toe-crushing yorkers by the cricket legend.”