Pakistan team in Asia Cup (Source: AFP)
The downfall of Pakistan cricket in the last few years has been pretty steep. They have consistently underperformed in multilateral tournaments, and despite a new, aggressive approach in the T20I format, they are now in danger of getting eliminated after a loss to India.
Even if they qualify for Super Four, they are looking quite vulnerable as a unit and would have to show a lot more application if they want to beat big teams in the tournament. Thus, here are the three problems that Pakistan need to tackle to do well in their upcoming Asia Cup match.
No Middle Gear In The Batting Group
Pakistan are trying to play an aggressive brand of cricket to align itself with the big teams in the world. For that, they have selected some young players who are known for their power game in domestic cricket. However, conditions have not been suitable for stroke-making so far in the UAE, and as a result, Pakistani batters have struggled.
Unlike the batters of India or Sri Lanka, Pakistan batters have not adjusted their game. Instead of relying on rotating the strike when the going gets tough, they are trying to break shackles only by going for big shots. Sahibzada Farhan, who is expected to score runs quickly, has even failed to bat at a strike-rate of 100 in the Asia Cup despite swinging his blade often during his knocks.
Saim Ayub has bagged two golden ducks, while the rest of the batters are also looking too desperate to hit big shots rather than play the ball on merit. Thus, the composure has been missing, and it has resulted in Pakistan struggling with the bat in the Asia Cup. Therefore, Pakistan batters need to work on their batsmanship and find a middle gear rather than trying to go to fifth directly from the first one.
Overexperimenting With Fakhar Zaman
Pakistan have Fakhar Zaman in their ranks, who has been most successful in T20 cricket as an opener. He is naturally an opener too, but to accommodate young openers, Pakistan decided to play him at three before the Asia Cup.
He has batted at that position in T20Is earlier too, and just when it looked like he was now settling at three, the management decided to push him down to number four. Fakhar is one of the few Pakistan batters who can show natural ability to hit big sixes in the past, but with his role changing constantly, he has been a pale shadow of himself.
| Criterion | Data |
| Runs | 3450 |
| Balls | 2498 |
| Average | 30.8 |
| Strike-Rate | 138.1 |
| 100/50 | 2/25 |
Thus, with Pakistan openers struggling, Pakistan would be better off promoting their most experienced batter at the top, which will help him bat freely like he does in tournaments like the PSL.
Not Trusting Their Pace-Bowling Strength: Haris Rauf
Over the years, Pakistan's strength has been their pacers and they have always relied heavily on them in tough situations. However, this new Pakistan team has moved away from its strength and is playing only frontline pacers in their entire XI. The reason for it has been spin-friendly conditions in UAE and India are also doing the same.
However, India have world-class spinners in their line-up while Pakistan have better pacers than spinners. Both their genuine spinners, Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem are inexperienced compared to someone like Haris Rauf, who is an x-factor and has often won Pakistan matches in the shortest format.
Rauf has also done well against a team like India, which can rattle them with pace and variations. He also has the experience of playing in big pressure games compared to most of the other bowlers and that can be useful for Pakistan against strong teams. Also, if the wickets are slow, his natural shorter length can be difficult for the batter to tackle, and though he can be expensive, he has the class to pick wickets in clusters and change the game on his head. Pakistan have other options in the pace department too, and they should at least play two genuine pacers rather than rely too much on spinners.
 (1).jpg?type=mq "When Will Team India Wear The Sponsors Jersey?")
