{"id":1647,"date":"2024-09-06T07:50:23","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T07:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/?p=1647"},"modified":"2024-09-06T07:55:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T07:55:43","slug":"as-the-cricket-world-cup-2023-kicks-off-later-this-week-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/2024\/09\/06\/as-the-cricket-world-cup-2023-kicks-off-later-this-week-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"As the Cricket World Cup 2023 kicks off later this week in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite a lacklusture Asia Cup campaign, the top-ranked ODI batter remains a crucial anchor in Pakistan\u2019s top order as they aim to bounce back from recent disappointments.<\/p>\n<p>Fast bowler Naseem Shah\u2019s absence due to injury could hamper Pakistan\u2019s World Cup campaign but Babar\u2019s brilliance with the bat means they are capable of posting imposing totals and remain a formidable team.<\/p>\n<p>The graceful right-hander averages 58.16 in ODIs and has the ability to score freely despite not being a natural power-hitter.<\/p>\n<p>The 34-year-old was included in the World Cup squad despite still recovering from a wrist injury sustained during the Ashes. After scoring 41 and falling for a golden duck on his return to action in the first two ODIs against India, he hit 74 in the third as Australia snapped a five-match losing run.<\/p>\n<p>With opener Travis Head\u2019s injury adding to Australia\u2019s long list of concerns before the tournament, a return to form for Smith would be key to their hopes of challenging for a sixth title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite a lacklusture Asia Cup campaign, the top-ranked ODI batter remains a crucial anchor in Pakistan\u2019s top order as they aim to bounce back from recent disappointments. Fast bowler Naseem Shah\u2019s absence due to injury could hamper Pakistan\u2019s World Cup campaign but Babar\u2019s brilliance with the bat means they are capable of posting imposing totals [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cricket","category-latest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1649,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions\/1649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}