At the T20 World Cup this month, Pakistan will be captained by seasoned Babar Azam because of the significant transformations that have taken place within Pakistani cricket over the past eighteen months.
The T-20 World Cup final lost to England in 2022, when Babar’s team had its fourth Chairman of PCB. The selection committee has also been completely changed and a brief attempt at having Shaheen Shah Afridi as captain was aborted.
England just had its limited overs coach arrive late in May as they prepare for the World Cup running from June 1-29 in the USA and Caribbean.
Lastly, it is a fact that Pakistan will be making their last call on their squad of fifteen for the World Cup after trying different lineups.
There is already a plan in place for success and Babar pleads with fans to be patient.
In any event, Babar decided to step down as captain of all formats side before India hosted ICC Cricket World Cup when Zaka Ashraf was appointed PCB Director last year.
However, his appointment came after Mohsin Naqvi became the fourth PCB chairman in less than 14 months and returned him back into T20s against New Zealand at home earlier this 2023 summer after Afridi lost to New Zealand one four.
That’s why Pakistan wants to participate in Caribbean Premier League before going to West Indies. Imad Wasim retired from international cricket along with him Mohammad Amir who left retirement as well an all rounder.
After becoming head coach last month, South African Gary Kirsten will spend some time getting acquainted with the Pakistani players during a four-match series being played out in England by both teams ahead of next year’s World Cup map preparation
All these off-field activities have affected Pakistan’s tournament preparations negatively.
Pakistan suffered heavy losses during away series with their nemesis New Zealand Black Capseven though they tied at two each during home matches; they did not do well against Afghanistan in the T20 series and that was a1-2 loss. They began poorly with an upset defeat by Ireland before returning to win two consecutive fixtures for a 2-1 final scoreline.
As such, Pakistan is so fickle that its history on the T20 World Cup makes it a team to follow into another global contest; it has reached the semi-finals thrice and appeared in three finals, winning one of them in 2009.
One of Gary Kirsten’s suggestions has already been well received by players.
“Gary told us, don’t play for the name on the back of your jersey but for the badge in front of your shirt,” Afridi told a PCB podcast. “And that stayed with me.”
They have a fast bowling depth which can threaten any opponent with players like Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf who has come back fully fit and Amir. However, Pakistan is still not sure about their top-order batting heading into England. Since splitting up Babar Rizwan and Mohammad as opening partners Saim Ayub has not got going yet though he is playing out as a left hander
Criticisms have come in recent months regarding Babar’s failure to increase Pakistan’s T20 power play run rate when they bat first; on many occasions other sides go past 200, while their targets are mostly between 170-180 runs per innings.
Yet India vs Pakistan never fails to attract large TV audiences even if they haven’t met in bilateral series since over ten years ago during ICC events.
The New York Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, a newly built 34,000-seat venue that will be of great interest to the South Asian community, will host an India-Pakistan group game on June 9.
The group comprises the USA, Canada and Ireland who are event co-hosts; therefore both sides are expected to advance into the super eight round of this tournament.
Babar has twice in a row led his side to runners-up spots against Australia in the semi-finals in 2021 and England at Melbourne final next year.
Babar would thus achieve historical distinction as the first captain ever to lead any country for three consecutive world cups. Babar is hoping for his Pakistan team to reach out until they get through to final day of their Barbados match between June 29th with him being third time lucky.
