After a lot of deliberation, trials and errors, Team Pakistan has been announced for the forthcoming Cricket World Cup, starting from 02 June in the USA and the Caribbean.

The fifteen warriors selected to bring the cricket world cup home are five openers, three regular spinners, supported by two batting spinners, five fast bowlers and the team enjoys the luxury of having three wicketkeepers.

With exception to one odd omission of a deserving player, and inclusion of an anomalous physically unfit player, the team selected is a good combination of youth and experience.

Pakistan will face USA in its opening match on June 06, after which the much awaited clash between arch rivals India and Pakistan will take place on June 09, at Eisenhower Park in New York.

After the recently concluded home series against the underpowered New Zealand, and the away series against Ireland, Pakistan played a four game T20 series against the full strength England side. This was a good enough opportunity for the selection committee to assess the strength and weakness and fitness of the players, and hand over the best available resource to the team captain for executing his mission successfully.

A total of 55 matches will be played amongst the record 20 different teams in this 9th edition of T20 cup. Canada, USA and Uganda will feature for the first time in this tournament.

The matches will be spread over two groups based rounds, and a knockout round that will commence with the semifinals. The teams are divided into four groups of five teams each. Pakistan are in group A along with USA, India, Canada and Ireland. At the end of round robin style matches, the top two teams from each group will advance to the Super Eight stage. The format provides a fair chance to each team to put in its best and reach the knockout round.

The leader’s chair has once again been handed over to prolific Babar Azam who will be assisted by South African Gary Kirsten in the dressing room as head coach, however the influence of Wahab Riaz as chief selector and team director cannot be ignored.

While I write these lines, the third T20 between England and Pakistan at Cardiff has been abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled. It is the second abandonment of the series, which leaves Pakistan with only one match to try out its players before they leave for the USA, where they will not get any practice match before the start of World Cup.

Sanity has prevailed in the dressing room, and Babar Azam despite his desire to face maximum overs in the game has relegated himself to one down position. This sensible decision has given the opening pair to bat more freely with a license to kill in the first power play, where tempo of any T20 game is set by playing more aerial shots rather than a classic display of traditional cricket.

The team now enjoys more flexibility to open with Siam Ayub, Usman Khan, Rizwan or Fakhar Zaman, depending upon the playing conditions, opposition faced and the nature of wicket. The biggest question mark, however, remains on the very important number five batting position in the team.

This position is vital because the number five batsman mostly gets his chance to bat between tenth and fourteenth over in a well contested T20 game. The team’s chances to step up its scoring rate or to chase a large total squarely depends upon the performance of this player.

The batter at this position instead of displaying brief fireworks and getting out should have a wide variety of strokes, and the ability to handle every kind of situation against any formidable opposition, and should be able to take the team out of the woods with calm intensity.

This important position earlier was very amicably handled by players like Shoaib Malik. At the moment the think tank with the team seems confused regarding this very number. Most of the experts are of the opinion that Pakistan are under utilising the abilities of Iftikhar Ahmad, who has so far proved to be most dependable in the middle. I also strongly feel that sending Iftikhar so low in the batting order is a complete waste of his abilities.

Pakistan team at present is struggling with its opening option and the vital number five batsman. The team captain and the management is taking chances with Saim Ayub as opener and unpredictable Azam Khan as number five batter. The selection of these two players was primarily based on their performance in franchise cricket. But when it comes to international cricket it’s altogether a different ball game.

The performance of Azam in particular with a batting average of eleven has raised questions regarding transparency in the selection process. It is mind boggling to see Azam batting ahead of Iftikhar Ahmad, Imad Waseem and Shadab Khan in the batting order, hoping against hopes that the big gun might fire someday.

Azam is not only a high risk batting option, but his range of motion behind the wickets also gets compromised due to his excessive body weight and lack of fitness. As a wicketkeeping option, Azam is no match to experienced Rizwan and electrifying Haris.

Pakistan’s most successful stroke player and premier all-rounder Shahid Khan Afridi has openly and rightly criticised the selection of Azam in the Pakistan team on the basis of his fitness.

We should remember that the World Cup is not a laboratory for experiments. The team should have a clear road map and a strategy, which should be executed with precision and not by chance. Ignoring form and experience over probabilities in this important tournament can be fatal.

He may be sent lower in the batting order to face the last two or three overs, with a chance to put a few quick runs on the scoreboard.

Pakistan’s fast bowling lineup is lethal and has the capacity to upset any batting lineup. However, there are problems with the spin department. Despite his bad form with the ball, Shadab Khan is being overused. As we all know Babar goes by the book and hardly thinks out of the box. The captain will have to extend his imagination and use Iftikhar and Saim Ayub if Shadab is picked up easily by the opposition batters.

I think it’s now high time to use Abrar as our main spin bowling option. The captain needs to show more resolve in the batting abilities of Iftikhar and Imad and use Shadab as a batting all-rounder instead of main spinner in the team.

In T20 cricket it’s always batting, excellent fielding and imaginative leadership that make the difference. Babar has a lot of resources at his disposal. It’s now up to the leader, how he marshals his troops under pressure and brings the best out of his team.

We all hope to see Pakistan in the final four of the world cup which at the moment seems to be a difficult proposition. Only those teams will reach the top who will play the fearless brand of cricket, display top physical and mental fitness and support its bowlers with excellent fielding.

sdfsports@gmail.com