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T20 World Cup | Countering setbacks, restoring belief, this is more than just a tournament for Pakistan

Somya Kapoor

At times, it takes a small obstacle to instigate an individual or a team and provide them with much-needed inspiration. AND Pakistan got that, days before the beginning of the T20 World Cup, courtesy New Zealand and England. 

The Blackcaps and the English side had cancelled their respective tours to the Asian nation citing security concerns. The two teams faced a lot of heat for their decision. 

PCB’s new chairman Rameez Raja was so furious that he went on to say that apart from India, Pakistan will also target New Zealand and England in the World Cup. 

"We go in the World Cup now and where we had one team in our target - our neighbours India, they now add two more teams - New Zealand and England. So pick up the strength and develop a mindset that we are not going to lose because you didn't do right by us with us and we will avenge that in the ground," ESPNcricinfo quoted Raja as saying.

So, here they are, apart from India, Pakistan do have New Zealand in their group and will lock horns with them on Tuesday (October 26, 2021) in Sharjah. 

Well, this is about the fixture but the important question is, is this mindset and approach good? Probably yes, probably no. The fans would be affirmative about this thinking while the pundits would contradict it and rightly so. 

Taking a few things on the chin and turning it around for yourself is a positive aspect but targeting just two or three teams in a global tournament is surely not a way to the right path. But we can still give that “benefit of doubt” to Rameez Raja as the board had to go through some major losses. 

Here is the time for the Pakistan unit to take up the onus and turn the tables for themselves. So, here we look at how this Pakistan squad looks like, what are their strengths and weaknesses. 

Babar Azam: The batsman 

There was a viral meme which had two pictures in a collage form reading “art & artist” and if we had to make something similar in cricket in the past few months, this would probably have “batting & Babar Azam” in it. The right-handed batsman has been in sublime form and has been among runs. Whether it’s the international fixtures or Pakistan’s National T20 tournament, Babar has been in great touch but there is a huge issue here that needs to be fixed. 

This glitch is Pakistan captain’s scoring rate. He has the ability to get his eye in and score a good amount of runs at the top but the striking rate puts the other batters under the pump. The team management and Babar himself would need to fix this up or alternatively can play the role of anchor who carries the bat through the innings and let the other batters go all guns blazing. 

Plenty of all-rounders & leaders

Pakistan have two of the most experienced all-rounders in Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik in their line up. It’s not just about how many runs can these two players chip in with or how many wickets they can take, it’s much more than that. 

It’s about how much knowledge they bring to the table considering the amount of cricket that these two players have played around the globe especially in the T20 format. 

Apart from these two, the unit also has the services of Imad Wasim and vice captain Shadab Khan. While Imad has some captaincy experience as he has led Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League, Shadab is considered to be one of the finest fielders that Pakistan have ever seen and he can set an example for the other players in the field. 

With Malik and Hafeez being the ex-skippers of the national side and Imad and Rizwan who have the experience of leading PSL franchises, the on ground planning can become much easier for Babar Azam. 

Presence of Sarfaraz Ahmed 

The wicket-keeper batsman Sarafraz Ahmed might not find a place in the final XI considering Rizwan being there but the former skipper is one of the most successful Pakistan captains. He has led the U19 team to a World Cup win and the senior side to the Champions Trophy triumph, beating India on both occasions. 

This goes without saying that a captain who has won an ICC tournament has a lot to offer even if he doesn’t take the field. MS Dhoni is probably the best example of this. 

So, Sarfaraz can chip in with some ideas that might help the think tank make better plans against a particular team and his presence in the dugout would make a lot of difference.

Aggressive stroke-makers

Pakistan have an equipped batting armour and this became much evident during their practice match against South Africa where Fakhar Zaman and later Asif Ali hammered the Proteas bowling all around the park. 

Zaman in fact notched up a fifty during the course. So, Pakistan at the moment have much more depth in their batting order which would make life tough for the opponents. Moreover, they have batsmen who possess the ability of taking on any bowling line up on their given day. 

A lot would depend on Fakhar Zaman as well as he has the experience of opening the innings. So, if a wicket falls early, he will have the responsibility to building the innings from scratch and if the side gets a steady start, the left-hander’s task would be to capitalise on it.  

A small glitch in bowling

Pakistan generally fancy their chances on their bowling but the team management would have taken a back after South Africa batsmen unleashed an onslaught against them. Despite picking up early wickets, Pakistan were not able to defend a target of 187 runs in 20 overs. 

With the likes of pacers like Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali, the fans would expect their team to defend such a formidable total. But that’s not the end of the story. The think tank can rejig the strategies and come up with better plans. 

Spinners might be the trump cards 

The Pakistan bowling unit at the moment has a number of spinners who have a lot of experience at the highest level and the kind of tracks that UAE would offer, these spinners might prove to be the key for the Babar Azam-led side.  

Pakistan will begin the campaign against India in Dubai on October 24, 2021. They will then play New Zealand in Sharjah on October 26 before coming back to Dubai where the side is slated to face Afghanistan on October 29. The side will then be up against Namibia on November 2 in Abu Dhabi and will conclude the group stage against Scotland on November 7 in Sharjah. 

Probable XI: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf 

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T20 World Cup | England annihilate defending champions West Indies to announce their supremacy

In what could be termed as an anti-climax, England annihilated West Indies by six wickets inside 10 overs of batting after bundling them over for a mere 55. Such was the magnitude of England’s dominance in the game that they have rocketed their net run rate to a staggering +3.46 on the points table. There was a huge sense of expectations and build-up for this game as the finalists of the last world cup were meeting in their opening encounter of the game, but it turned out to be a damp squib with only England turning up with their best. England were ruthless in their approach with the ball and the skipper Morgan would have wanted the same ruthlessness with the bat as well but batsmen were not as clinical in their game. Nevertheless, England hit the ground running in the game right from the second over of the game when Chris Woakes perplexed Evin Lewis with a slower delivery and Moeen Ali clung on to a fantastic catch running back from mid-off. From that point of the game, it was no coming back for the defending champions and the Englishmen established their authority over the game with each passing delivery. After Lewis, Moeen dragged an aerial shot off Lendl Simmons’ bat to deep midwicket and a perfectly positioned Liam Livingstone was all over the moon with that easy opportunity. The duo of Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer threw caution into the wind and played delightful strokes off Woakes and Moeen respectively. However, the wily off-spinner got the better of him by bowling a faster, back of length delivery that hurried onto him and he could not hit his pull shot over Morgan at short mid-wicket and the Windies were in tatters. Gayle continued on his merry way and attacked Tymal Mills, but the left armer was smarter than him on the occasion and he cramped him with a short delivery that the “Universe Boss” tried to blast over the leg side. Dwayne Bravo was promoted up the order ahead of Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard to stabilise the innings and he did not do untoward things to get out. Instead, he was the victim of a superb catch by Jonny Bairstow at the point and all the hopes of Windies hitting their way out of trouble was disappearing. Tymal Mills returned to edge Pooran behind the wicket and the Windies needed a hell of a lot of luck and magic to come out of the rut they found themselves in. Their last hope was resting on the bale shoulders of Andre Russell and Pollard but Adil Rashid, who was away from the buffet of wickets in the early part of the game, got the big fish of Russel with a beauty that breached an out of character defensive prod. If the flop show was not enough, Rashid returned with his second over and got the better of Pollard, who was desperate to make a statement than playing out the entire length of 20 overs and Windies obituaries were finally on the scoreboard. Rashid finished with an astonishing bowling figure of 2.2-0-2-4 and England made a light work of the experienced and explosive batting lineup of West Indies. In pursuit of a mere 56, England were off to a decent start as Jason Roy and Jos Buttler were on the money with crisp shots. However, there was a mini-collapse halfway through the powerplay as the left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein picked two caught and bowled wickets of Bairstow and Liam Livingstone in an outrageous manner. Albeit the game did not end in a perfect finish for England, but the team management led by Eoin Morgan would be delighted to see his troops coming firing all their cylinders and bamboozling the world champions in the first game of the tournament. In a way, the game could also be seen as a statement by England to their critics who doubt their game plan and strength in these conditions. First, the game between Australia and South Africa that turned out to be a low-scoring thriller, the night game between England and West Indies turned out to be a dampener, and the arch-rivals England Australia would be the happier side to go past the first day with a win in their pockets.

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T20 World Cup | AUS vs SA: Proteas bowlers make Aussies work hard for first win despite small target

Australia had to work a bit hard to etch a win against South Africa despite getting a good start from the bowlers in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Chasing 119 in 20 overs the Australian team lost some early wickets and were reduced to 38/3 before Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell joined hands to stitch a stand of 42 runs for the fourth wicket. But Smith’s departure for 35 was followed by Maxwell’s dismissal who was undone by Tabraiz Shamsi as the Aussie side was left tottering at 81/5 in the 16th over. Later, Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade took the onus on themselves and steadied the ship for the side with an unbeaten partnership of 40 runs for the sixth wicket. Stoinis remained unbeaten at 24 off 16 while Wade struck a 10-ball 15* to see the side home by 5 wickets in the final over. Anrich Nortje was the pick of the bowlers who scalped a couple of wickets for 21 runs in 4 overs while Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Shamsi bagged a wicket apiece during the course. Earlier, in the day, Aaron Finch who won the toss asked South Africa to bat first and the Australian bowlers responded pretty well. First Glenn Maxwell cleaned up a dangerous-looking Temba Bavuma and then Josh Halewood scalped a couple of wickets in quick succession that included the dismissal of Quinton de Kock. The Proteas were soon reduced to 46/4 before Aiden Markram and David Miller tried to provide some resistance to the side. The right-left batting combination scored 34 runs for the fifth wicket but Miller’s departure broke the shackles and South Africa lost wickets in quick succession to get restricted to 118/9 in 20 overs eventually. Mitchell Starc, Hazlewood and Adam Zampa picked up two wickets each while Maxwell and Cummins had one wicket each to their name. Later, Australia captain Finch lauded Stoinis and Wade for keeping their composure and taking the team over the line. “The dugout was relaxed than I was. Quite stressful, and I was nervous. Stoinis and Wade showed a cool head to get us over the line, and that is what a bit of experience can do. Maxwell did a really good job with the ball. We knew he had good matchups in the powerplay. Our whole bowling unit was outstanding,” he said in the post-match presentation. Australia will now play Sri Lanka on October 28 while South Africa will be up against the West Indies on October 26 in Dubai.