T20 World Cup: Opening conundrum, unsettled middle-order — problems plaguing Pakistan team

Babar Azam-led Pakistan cricket team starts its 2024 T20 World Cup campaign against co-hosts the United States of America at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Thursday. Pakistan, the finalist in 2022, will look to go one step better and win the title, however, the Men in Green face several challenges in their bid for a second T20 World Cup title, having last won in 2009 in England.

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Other teams in Pakistan’s group are arch-rivals India , who they face on 9 June, Canada (11 June) and Ireland (16 June).

Opening conundrum

Remember those times when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan formed a dangerous opening duo for Pakistan? That match against India in the 2021 T20 World Cup for example, where the two forged an unbeaten 152 runs to guide the team to a 10-wicket win.

However, almost three years down the line, things are not the same anymore. Ever since the turn of the year, “experimentation” has been the major keyword for Babar Azam and Co. The first instance of that experimentation was when 22-year-old Saim Ayub was made to open along with Rizwan during a five-match T20I series against New Zealand in an away series earlier this year. That experiment failed with Ayub aggregating just 39 runs from four matches with a highest score of 27.

He would once again open against the Kiwis in a five-match home series but couldn’t do much better, managing just 57 runs from five matches at an average of 14.25.

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On the other hand, the opening duo of Babar and Rizwan have forged more than 2,000 runs together and there was no need for a shift like this when two of the team’s best batters are doing well.

Former West Indies cricketer Ian Bishop feels that Pakistan should go back to the opening pair of Babar and Rizwan, but bat even more aggressively. “The experience of Babar and Riwan, they probably will go back there. But again, that’s a template that needs to change with those two players who I think from what we’ve seen T 20 cricket going to even in a World Cup of challenging pitches, they need to shift another gear up in the way they approach their batting,” Bishop had told Star Sports.

Unsettled middle-order

It’s not just the opening combination that Pakistan should be worried about. An unsettled middle-order is another talking point as far as the 2022 finalists are concerned. Fakhar Azam is not firing on all cylinders, and Azam Khan has struggled as well. And much recently, batting all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed has been unable to finish matches like he used to at one stage.

Men in Green are once again heavily reliant on Babar and Rizwan to produce runs before their middle-order gets eventually exposed.

Another concern is Pakistan’s run rate of less than eight in the middle overs, however this year, they have been slightly better with a run rate of 8.55. As a batting unit in the shortest format, the team has no option but to fire, and it’s safe to say that the former champions have been inconsistent with that.

Off-field issues and changes

Pakistan have also undergone radical changes on and off the field ever since their ODI World Cup debacle last year when they missed out on the semi-finals. Following Babar Azam’s resignation as all-format skipper, Shaheen Afridi was named T20I captain whereas Shan Masood led the Test side.

However, after a 4-1 defeat to New Zealand in January, a series where Shaheen’s captaincy and tactics were criticised, the pacer was stripped of leadership, making Babar skipper again. In the same month, Zaka Ashraf quit as interim Pakistan chairman citing lack of powers. There was a change in coaching staff too, since the departures of Grant Bradburn and Mickey Arthur as head coach and Director of Cricket respectively.

Gary Kirsten took over as limited-overs coach whereas Jason Gillespie was named Test side coach.

That was not all.

Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim came out of retirement just in time for the T20 World Cup, making themselves available. However, their decision was met with criticism from a few former players, including Ramiz Raja, who had slammed Amir , citing his past involvement in the spot-fixing scandal.

Lack of spin bowling options

A lot of venues in the West Indies and the USA are likely to assist spinners, but this is where Pakistan lack at the moment. They have two spin-bowling all-rounders Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan, and the lone specialist spinner in the squad is Abrar Ahmed.

Maybe, Pakistan have missed a trick by not including an extra specialist spinner.

Also, Imad has been ruled out of the USA game with an injury.

On the other hand, they have as many as five pace-bowling options in Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Sham, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi and Haris Rauf, but the lack of spinners remains a worry, given the fact that they can exploit the West Indies conditions during Super 8 and knockout stages, especially on those pitches that offer a lot of turn.