What to expect from Pakistan at the World Cup
May 22, 2019
With the inclusion of Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Aamir and Asif Ali, Pakistan’s 15-member squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup has been finalized, a squad which looks great, at least on paper.
Pakistan is set to start its world cup campaign with a game against West Indies at Nottingham, on 31st of May, a day after the tournament is officially kicked-off.
Having a look at Pakistan’s 15 for cricket’s pinnacle, the squad seems a blend of experienced and youngsters who have been extraordinary with their performances, especially the batsmen.
Starting from batsmen, Pakistan’s top order has been in good form and all have been scoring runs. It is, in fact, a great relief to see team scoring 300+ runs consecutively.
Imam ul Haq, Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam have been in superb form and one hopes that they’ll continue scoring runs in the mega-event.
Bowlers, though, didn’t look encouraging, but they can’t be blamed entirely for not being able to defend big totals in the series against England. There were two reasons poor fielding and wickets extremely favourable to batsmen.
But with the addition of Mohammad Aamir and Wahab Riaz, comes much-needed experience to Pakistan’s bowling line along with Shadab khan who makes the bowling more strong.
A lot has also been debated about the batting position of skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed. Known as “Saffy” among friends, the wicket-keeper batsman is one of the most successful to play the position produced by Pakistan in ODIs.
Ideally, he is best suited for batting at position 4th or 5th, depending on the situation. If god-forbids, Pakistan lose early wickets then Sarfaraz must push his batting order up to 4th and play with his typical “single-double” start cricket.
But, if top order survives for 40 overs, then it is better for the team if a pinch-hitter is sent to bat ahead of Sarfaraz to add quick runs in death overs.
Overall, the team is comprised of best available players and picking final XI will surely give a headache to Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mickey Arthur.
In an ideal scenario, Pakistan’s final XI should be: Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul Haq, Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Asif Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Aamir, Wahab Riaz.
With all said and done, the team is now finalized and players are eyeing the glory. Let's get behind this team and support the green!
As they say, we have – we will.
