India, Oct. 17 -- Pakistan ODI captain Shaheen Shah Afridi gave the vote of confidence to Babar Azam on Saturday ahead of the tri-series opener against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, saying the seasoned batter is under no pressure as he remains the backbone of the team.

After the debacle on the UK tour, where Pakistan lost all three Tests against England, there was enough chatter about Babar's form, with the right-hander not scoring a century in the format since December 2022. However, the same is not the case in ODIs, with runs consistently coming off his bat, with his last five scores reading 102*, 34, 69, 16, and 40.

Following the horrid campaign against England, where Babar missed the first Test, the batter returned to domestic cricket to...