Taking part in the IPL will help me for the T20 World Cup: Azmatullah Omarzai

Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai feels taking part in the upcoming Indian Premier League will help him for the T20 World Cup. Omarzai was purchased by Gujarat Titans for Rs 50 lakh during the auction and he will look to deliver his best.

The right-hander has scored 252 runs in 30 T20I matches and has scalped 17 wickets for the national team. Omarzai has also scored 490 runs in 22 ODI matches and has picked up 13 wickets.

Omarzai had impressed with his consistent performances in the ODI World Cup 2023 as he scored 353 runs in eight innings at an average of 70.60 and a strike rate of 97.78. Furthermore, he scalped seven wickets for Afghanistan in nine matches.

Azmatullah Omarzai said in an interview with Cricbuzz, “Certainly it (taking part in the IPL) will help me for the World Cup. IPL is a top league and all the big players of the world take part in the competition and all of them are very experienced so it will be good for me that I will have the experience for the World Cup.

“I will have preparation (for the world cup) considering it is such a tournament that all the games are close and there is lot of pressure involved and lot of crowd comes. The environment is good and competitive. It will be good for me as the pressure that will come in the World Cup I will get used to in the IPL,” he further added.

Omarzai added he wants to keep working hard to deliver the goods in all conditions.

“The plan is simple (for IPL) and it is same for all. Everywhere I go I have to work hard and believe in my skill whether it is IPL or BPL or any kind of cricket. My motto is very simple and that is just believe in your skill and work hard and Insha’Allah as I am practicing and doing hard work as well as playing matches, I will be carrying a good mindset going into the IPL,” he said.

Omarzai is part of Afghanistan’s ODI squad and he will be in action in the first game against Sri Lanka on 9th February.