Of the traditional top 8 sides of international cricket, Pakistan are the only ones that haven’t made the final of the Champions Trophy since it was played as the ICC Knockout Trophy in 1998. Of the other seven, six have won it (Australia and India twice each), while England – the hosts for this year’s tournament – have been runners-up twice (2004 and 2013).
Therefore, the Champions Trophy remains the only high-profile limited-overs ICC tournament that Pakistan haven’t won. To do so on the 18th of June would count as one of the greatest achievements by the national team.
A large part of this is owing to the squad that Pakistan would be putting out there to compete with the very best in the world in a format where the rest of the teams have outpaced Pakistan in the recent past.
Hasan Ali
Pakistan squad: Sarfraz Ahmed(c), Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Fahim Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Shadab Khan, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Haris Sohail, Fakhar Zaman
For Pakistan to win the Champions Trophy, at least one of South Africa and India, currently one and three in the ICC ODI rankings respectively, would have to miss out on the semifinals. The fourth team in their group is Sri Lanka, and Pakistan would have to beat them and one of South Africa and India to reach the semifinal, where Australia, New Zealand or England might loom.
Safe to say that the odds are stacked against Pakistan, the lowest ranked among the eight sides in the tournament – one place below Bangladesh.
Furthermore, the only hint of positivity for Pakistan in ODIs over the past year or so has come against the West Indies, who are currently ranked 9th and have completely missed out on the Champions Trophy altogether.
Mohammed Amir
But of course, Pakistan have pulled off stranger feats. Realistically though, making the semis would be a huge success for the current side – and of course anything can happen when you’re two games away from glory at the knockout stage.
For Pakistan to succeed the bowlers would have to perform out of their skins – as they usually have to – since the current batting lineup does not have it in them to score runs well in excess of 300.
Azhar Ali’s return to the squad in place of Kamran Akmal only adds to that. A top three of Azhar, Ahmed Shehzad and Babar Azam won’t get you off to a flyer. Unfortunately, the trio might not even be able to cash in on the good starts and score heavily when they’re well settled.
As good as Babar has been over the past nine months, his innings are one-paced and he often leaves it too late to begin his stroke play. His 125* against West Indies at Providence, where Pakistan ended up with 282/5 in 50 overs is a classic example of how he was perfectly happy going at a below-average rate till he reached his 100. A modern day batsman cannot play over a 100 balls and have a strike-rate less than 100.
Babar Azam
Of course, what saves Babar from much criticism is the fact that he is scoring heavily in a team where big-hitters are non-existent.
Fakhar Zaman should be given a run at four, with Malik at five and Sarfraz at six adding some form of aggression to the lineup. Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim can score quick as well, but none of the aforementioned players is one who can clear the boundary with ease.
Mohammed Amir, Hasan Ali and Junaid Khan/Wahab Riaz would form the pace trio, complemented by Shadab and Imad to form Pakistan’s bowling attack. There’s good variety in this attack, but everyone would need to be at their best since they’ll be taking on the very best in the business, and might not be able to rely on the batting to out-bat the opposition.
Pakistani teams usually thrive on momentum more so than any other side. And a win against archrivals India on the 4th of June could throw the rankings, strike rates and all other stats out of the window for Team Pakistan.
