Pakistan team mentor Matthew Hayden has backed his under-fire skipper Babar Azam to produce “something very special” in the knockout stages of the T20 World Cup. Babar has failed to fire in the ongoing showpiece, with a 33-ball 25 against Bangladesh being his best in the last five matches.

‘Won’t be down for too long’

“Don’t be surprised whatsoever if you don’t see some fireworks because very special players don’t often stay down for long,” Hayden said during the pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final against New Zealand.