Naseem Shah's Woeful Form And...? 3 Concerns For Pakistan Ahead Of Tri-Nation Final

Worrying signs for Pakistan [Source: AP Photo]

Pakistan have somehow reached the finals of the ODI tri-nation series as they defeated South Africa in a one-sided battle and scripted history by chasing their highest-ever total in ODI cricket. At one stage, Pakistan looked down and out, however, captain Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha played blinders to steer their side to a famous win.

Both the batters scored breath-taking hundreds as the South African bowlers looked clueless and the Men in Green won the game by 6-wickets to secure a date with the Kiwis in the finals, which will take place on Friday.

However, despite reaching the finale, the Pakistan side has many concerns as they still look vulnerable and the New Zealand side can easily identify it. Here are 3 major weaknesses which the team needs to rectify before the finals.

1) Naseem Shah's woeful form

Naseem's ODI stats in ongoing series

Naseem Shah has been a pale shadow of his former self in the first two matches of the tri-nation series. The star bowler has looked vulnerable and the opposition batters have taken him down with ease.

In the clash against New Zealand, he went for 70 runs in 10 overs and failed to pick up a wicket as the Kiwis posted 330 on the board. In the match against the Proteas, Naseem did manage to pick up a wicket, but conceded 68 runs as the opposition team posted in excess of 350.

With no Haris Rauf in the team due to an injury, Naseem needs to step up and support Shaheen Afridi, who himself has looked lacklustre in the tournament.

2) The Babar Azam conundrum

For some reason, Pakistan decided to open with Babar Azam in the ongoing matches. However, that moved failed as the batter couldn't do much in the first two matches. He had scores of 10 and 23 as in both the games the bowlers found a way to get his wicket.

Babar's best position is number 3 and this is where he has scored truckloads of ODI runs. Pakistan have Saud Shakeel in the team and they could open with him and Fakhar Zaman for the finals, and the best possible move would be to put Babar in his usual number 3 pisition for the finals.

3) Death overs struggle

Economy rates of Pakistan bowlers (Vs SA)

Pakistan only had one death overs specialist in the squad and that person was Haris Rauf, who was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury. Without him, there is no other bowler who can contain runs in the death.

Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Muhammad Hasnain and even Rauf's replacement, Akif Javed are all new ball bowlers and they don't have mastery in death bowling, something which the Kiwis exploited in the first game and could very well do in the finale as well.

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