One of the upcoming strongest teams in the format of T20, Pakistan recently suffered a 4-3 defeat against the England team at home and then pulled up their socks and won the tri series with New Zealand and Bangladesh held at New Zealand. They suffered defeat at the hands of India in the inaugral T20 WC held at South Africa and came back stronger to lift the cup at 2009 T20 WC held at England. After a long hiatus, they were firm favourites to lift the 2021 T20 WC only to have Matthew Wade of Australia spoil the fun at the party by taking on Shaheen Afridi and sealing the fate for the Pakistan team. The team would be on high spirits and would be making another attempt to make sure they lift the cup after 13 years.
Pakistan team announced the squad for T20I world cup 2022 which was catching the eyes of fans and experts around the world as their team always been one of the favorites when it comes to ICC tournaments.
Here’s look at the squad which Pakistan selected.
2022 Squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood.
Standby Players: Usman Qadir, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani.
The team will be led by Babar Azam, while Shadab Khan has been named vice-captain. Babar is likely to open batting with wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, with whom he has shown composure at the top. Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Haider Ali, and Shan Masood; they have many choices of middle-order batters to choose from.
Pakistan’s always been one of the fierce bowling line up as this time Shaheen Shah Afridi will be leading the pace attack after recovering from the recent injury which kept him out of Asia cup. In addition to this, the in form pacers who have got the faith of coach Shaun Tait - Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim and Mohammad Hasnain will be raring to tear apart the stumps of opponent’s batsman.
The pace lineup will be backed by the spinners and all rounders in Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz
Khushdil shah and Ifthikhar Ahmed can bowl too if the situation demands which really gives an edge over opponents and help the team combination look flexible.
Pakistan is also going with the trend to keep the standby cricketers which includes Usman Qadir, Shahnawaz Dahani and Mohammad Haris. It is most likely that the reserves can get included in the team.
Strengths:
Pakistan team has always been one of the top favorites when it comes to ICC tournaments as they have a team you can bet on.
The Shaun Tait led team have been clear that they have the best opportunity to prove everyone wrong and give a standout performance to win the World cup as the veteran Australian speedster thinks that Pakistan bowling lineup is clearly the best in the world and the world should fear them as they have pace and everything which is needed to win close encounters.
The form of Rizwan always gives Pakistan an upper hand in powerplay overs as he is reliable batsman who can offer you runs almost every time. Their captain Babar Azam also got his form back in the recent series against England and the experts believe that he would be one of the best batsmen in the upcoming World cup. The kind of technique which Babar plays with Rizwan would be the key on the pacy pitches of Australia.
The other strength is the presence of multi-faceted players. Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan are two of the best spin-bowling all-rounders across the globe. If Pakistan wants, it can use Shadab as a pinch-hitter too.
Weakness:
Pakistan has the habit of spoiling its party. This can be seen in the “shot selection” of the players and sometimes strike rate being one of the major issues. If Pakistan sticks to the basics and does not try something excessive or out of the box, they can even slay top contenders like India and England. Another threat is the lack of game time for Shaheen. Since Shaheen has been out for a long time, this might be one point of concern for the Pakistan Cricket Team.
Threats:
All knows Pakistan is the team which everyone fears as they are someone who can pull anything off so easily and with lots of composure however, the major issue which they have been facing recently is that the approach of batting which seems quite confusing for the team. Considering the trend and the way world batters are playing; the neighbor team’s approach seems old fashioned.
RUNS SCORED BY BABAR AND RIZWAN IN THE 7 MATCH SERIES vs ENGLAND
601 runs
RUNS SCORED BY NO. 3,4,5,6 BATSMAN:
389 runs
52.67% runs scored by both openers!!!!.
The contribution of the middle order has been biggest concern as the stats shows.
In recent time instability and insecurity among players for their place in the team also been one of the reasons of continuous low performance from other players except openers. As we all know players need security and clarity upon their places and role which makes them do their best in whatever capacity the situation demands.
For example, India have selected the squad way earlier and gave clarity to each individual that they would play the world cup; Captain Rohit and Coach Dravid has been very clear with role they have given to each of individual in the team as a result India is performing best to their capacity in the T20Is.
If the openers fail to score big and stick around for long, it becomes headache for the team to win the match. All the teams are eyeing on the openers of the Pakistan team as stats shows.
Recently Pakistan batsman also have exposed against short pitch ball as we have seen in the first match of India vs Pakistan in Asia cup. The fats and bouncy pitches of Australia will always challenge them against quality pace bowling line up of the teams.
What to expect:
With hundreds of imperfections, this team still manages to be on top and destroy everyone’s attitude like a boss.
The cricket fraternity can expect Pak to give performance which they have been worshipping and practicing for as they have the confidence by their side, the coach is sure that they would do the best in the upcoming tournament. Rizwan and the skipper Babar are the players you can bet upon.
Prediction:
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has made a big prediction ahead of the T20 World Cup. He is concerned about the performance of the team.
He believes that the team would disqualify in group stages. In his sayings, “Pakistan middle order is not good. Plus Pakistan’s openers if they don’t perform, middle order also cannot deliver. This is not the way to go into a World Cup if you want to win the world cup,” Akthar said. “As I have said in earlier instances also, I fear that this Pakistan team can go out of the world cup in the first round itself.”
I personally believe that Pakistan is a team which plays good cricket in ICC tournaments; who knows if they can place all the efforts and perform the way India did in 2007 world cup. then nothing can stop them from kleeping their hands on the coveted trophy.
Probable Eleven:
Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah.
