By the time you read this, Pakistan’s first pool match against Bangladesh would already have been played out. A repeat of the Asia Cup result would make it extremely hard, if not impossible, for Pakistan to survive Group 2, that features Australia, New Zealand and India.
Pakistan will take on India tomorrow, in what is an early chance to compare the team to what undoubtedly is the world’s best T20 outfit right now, especially in the given conditions. The fact that India would be the overwhelming favourites for the match could actually work in Pakistan’s favour.
Even so, for Pakistan to overcome India - or Australia and New Zealand for that matter - they need key players to step up and perform. It’s hard to come up a list of such candidates when Pakistan aren’t the ones fielding.
The Asia Cup debacle was spearheaded by a batting line-up that doesn’t seem anything beyond ordinary, even on paper. That is what distinguishes the current Pakistani batting line-up from their (many) predecessors: it isn’t an underperforming bunch that crumbles under pressure, it’s quite simply not good enough.
Pakistan should let bygones be bygones and start afresh
What makes this worse is persistence with players who have constantly let the team down and a batting order that defies logic.
Pakistan’s playing 11 should look something like this:
Ahmed Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammed Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan
Of these Hafeez and Shehzad shouldn’t get any way near the T20 starting 11, considering the number of opportunities they’ve had to let Pakistan down, wherein they have duly complied. Shehzad’s comeback owes itself to the baffling selection of Khurram Manzoor, who was all over the place in the Asia Cup. Sharjeel probably clung on to the squad by the skin of his teeth following his innings against Sri Lanka.
Mohammad Amir
However, Sharjeel has given more than a glimpse to suggest that he can nail a permanent slot as a limited-overs opener for Pakistan. Ideally he should be partnered with Sarfraz Ahmed, one of Pakistan’s better performers with the bat, who never gets bogged down by the pressure built by a combination of opposing bowlers and past individual failures. However, the squad composition suggests that Shehzad would open the innings with Sharjeel.
Khalid Latif should be preferred over Hafeez, but the latter’s 70 in the warm-up match against Sri Lanka might have made it impossible for him to be dropped. Hafeez might have improved his batting in the longer format since his bowling ban, but his spot in the team becomes less certain without his more-than-handy off-spin.
Sarfraz, Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal should be batting in the top four, considering that they’re the only batsmen with any inkling of form. And in T20s you absolutely need to give the in-form batsmen as much of the time on the crease as possible.
If the team management persists with the aforementioned line-up, Pakistan’s batting hopes would rest with Sarfraz, Sharjeel and Akmal, at least one of whom would have to make the tournament his own for Pakistan to have any chance to qualify from Group 2 of the Super 10 stage.
Pakistan’s bowling is, again, second to none. In Amir, Irfan and Wahab they have the finest left-arm fast-bowling talent in the world, even though the latter would be kept on his heels by the increasingly impressive and consistent Sami. Sami’s two no-balls against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup match might have cost Pakistan the match, and him a place in the starting 11. The spin of Afridi and Imad - or Nawaz - along with Malik would form a formidable trio for the given conditions as well.
Even so, the bowling can only do so much if the batting consistently fails.
For Amir, this is the global stage that he’s been waiting for. He’s already firmly announced his return, especially at the Asia Cup, but there’s nothing like a World Cup to showcase what the world has been missing out on. Two to three Pakistani players would have to play the tournament of their lives, like Afridi and Umar Gul did in 2009, for Pakistan to have any remote shot at glory. And there is no better candidate for one of those slots than Amir.
Afridi’s captaincy needs to be much better than what it has been in the recent past. The heat that he has received for a harmless comment (about the support that Pakistani players get in India) could pump him up, or it could just as easily streamline his path towards self-combustion.
Pakistan are coming off back-to-back-to-back T20 disappointments in UAE, New Zealand and Bangladesh. The team is also surrounded by security alarms and off-field controversy. It’s in the team’s best interests to let bygones be bygones and start afresh. If Pakistan and carve a way out from this Super 10 group, it’s anyone’s World Cup after that.
