The Pakistan cricket team failed to qualify for the Super Eight stages of the 2024 T20 World Cup after a horrendous start to the campaign, suffering a defeat against the United States of America and India before a couple of wins against Canada and Ireland. Even their last two victories did not seem convincing as the batting was threatened in the USA conditions with the team suffering from mini collapses. The Babar Azam-captained unit ended with four points from as many matches with rain-spoiled USA versus Ireland clash drenching their Super Eight hopes.
On reflecting on the team’s performance, the skipper expressed the lack of teamwork in the event. He highlighted their good work in a single department on a particular day but failure as an overall unit.
“We did not play well as a team. It’s not that we lost because of one person. As a team, we lost. As a team we were not able to click. Sometimes we did well with our bowling but we did not do well in batting. The pitches here – you saw that they helped the fast bowlers a little. But I think our batting did not click,” said Babar in his last press conference at the mega event on June 16. 
Pakistan’s Super Over loss against the USA, followed by arch-rivals India snatching a win from the jaws of defeat, triggered many cricket pundits and fans. To end on the wrong side of a huge cricketing upset and failing to bounce back against the arch-rivals, what’s known to be one of the fiercest rivalries in cricket left the Pakistan cricket fans bemused.
“When the games were in our hands – we lost wickets because of which we lost two crucial matches. We were going ahead, and the pressure was on the other team. But when you lose back-to-back wickets, you know the pressure builds. There are some dot balls, where you have to build partnerships. When the pressure builds, you take chances. Today, you saw that we were going easily, but then the back-to-back wickets fell. There was a little pressure and we took the game deep,” Azam said.
Certainly, this hasn’t been a season to remember for a side that ended up in the T20 World Cup 2022 final and 2021 semi-final. They were also a part of the 2022 Asia Cup final, which was played in the form of T20 format. However, what ruined their performance in the ensuing edition of T20 World Cup? Let us quickly go through some of it.
Lack of proper middle order
Pakistan had a dodgy selection ahead of the T20 World Cup where a proper middle order batter was missing. Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Mohammed Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, and Usman Khan constituted their top five on most occasions. If one carefully observes, all the five batters are openers who were adjusted to bat in different positions throughout the tournament.
The player of the match from 2017 Champions Trophy, Zaman batted in six different positions in his T20I career with his best average, reading 25.88, coming as an opener. Even his highest score of 91 in T20Is came as an opener. However, he was adjusted in the middle order at No.4 during the tournament.
Usman Khan can be an X Factor cricketer but as an opener. The swashbuckler serves as an opener in franchise tournaments and has often produced quick runs inside the powerplay with good conversions quite often. However, shuffling the batter down at No. 3 did not fare well for Pakistan as he looked like a fish out of water during the T20 World Cup.
When it comes to the captain Babar Azam, initially he didn’t sacrifice his opening spot for someone like Zaman or Usman, who could’ve capitalised on the powerplay. Rather, he played sluggish knocks at the top before going down the order for the last couple of matches against Canada and Ireland.
Bowling lacklustre
Pakistan fast bowlers have always gained the spotlight in major tournaments and high-octane matches. But it was a different story this year. Haris Rauf failed to defend 15 runs off the last over against Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar in their curtain raiser, leading to a super over. Mohammad Amir lacked lustre despite wearing experience on his shoulder. The left-arm pacer spilled three wides in the Super Over, eventually leading to a 19-run target for the Men in Green.
In addition, Shaheen Afridi is no longer the same he was a couple of years back. The left-arm quick had the worst bowling average (21.00), second-worst bowling strike rate (19.2) and economy (6.56) among Pakistan bowlers who dished more than 10 overs in the ongoing tournament.
Regarding the spinners, Imad Wasim earned just three scalps from as many matches at a bowling strike rate of 22.0. Shadab Khan failed to pick a wicket in the four overs he bowled across the bonanza event and ended up spilling 38 runs. Conditions in New York were highly bowling-friendly, but the Pakistan unit failed to make use of it in this T20 World Cup.
Over-reliance on Babar and Rizwan
When was the last time Babar and Rizwan dominated a higher-ranked cricket team on the global level. Probably, the 2021 T20 World Cup comes to mind where dew played a huge factor and therefore the toss. Almost two and a half years now, yet Pakistan’s batting unit is completely reliable on Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Both batters had a start-stop season leading to the downfall of their batting unit. Saim Ayub and Azam Khan had Caribbean Premier League experience but failed to do the needful in national colours.
Having played 104 T20Is, Shadab Khan averages 17.86 with the bat and was adjudged the No. 5 position in the middle order initially. However, he scored a 40 on a tricky surface against USA, the all-rounder failed to continue the spark in the remaining games. He has just a solitary half-century in T20Is, yet Pakistan management looked at him as a reliable middle order option on overseas conditions.
All in all, the Pakistan Cricket Board has a tough task ahead with the ICC Champions Trophy and another T20 World Cup around the corner in a couple of years. They would look to make necessary amendments to help one of the greatest cricketing nations surge upwards in the modern era.
