Pakistan, since their historic and emphatic win at the Champions Trophy 2017 in England, have had an absolute dismal show in this format. In recent times, they've been on a losing spree, having lost 10 out of their last 11 games.
Although the team has been performing poorly, they've had some sheer individual brilliance & sparkling performances. The advent of the Pakistan Super League where the local talent has a platform to perform, compete & share dressing room space with the some of big names in international cricket has reaped dividends.
For the first time going into an ICC event, I think the Pakistan batting unit looks more settled then their bowling line up. Fakhar Zaman, Imam-Ul-Haq & Babar Azam have been very consistent with their show and make a very reliable top order. The experience of Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmed gives their middle order a settled look. For a country, where fast bowlers were available as easily as rasgula on the streets of Kolkata, there is an uncalled sudden scarcity. From their provisional squad of XV, they dropped Junaid Khan and Faheem Ashraf only to go back to the initially discarded, Wahab Riaz & Mohammad Amir.
Likely XI
1) Fakhar Zaman
2) Imam Ul Haq
3) Babar Azam
4) Mohammad Hafeez
5) Shoaib Malik
6) Sarfaraz Ahmed
7) Imad Wasim
8) Shadab Khan
9) Hassan Ali
10) Mohammad Amir
11) Wahab Riaz
Bench
1) Shaheen Afridi & 2) Mohammad Hasnain - Reserve Fast bowlers
3) Asif Ali - Reserve Middle Order Batsmen
4) Haris Sohail - Reserve Batting All Rounder
Verdict - I'd be really surprised if they make it to the Top 4. But much like the stock market, this is team where lower circuit trends can be reversed to upper circuits in no time, so write them off at your own market risk
No comments:
Post a Comment