Pakistan Team Preview

Best Odds for Pakistan to Win

The best odds of Pakistan winning the T20 World Cup are 9.0 with Betway. 

That makes them the sixth favourites, just a little bit longer in the betting than South Africa.

Like New Zealand, they’re perennial dark horses who are extremely dangerous when it matters the most and at no time does it matter more than during a World Cup.

They’re fresh from a semi-final place at last year’s World Cup and a runner-up spot at the recent Asia Cup, beaten by Sri Lanka in a thrilling final.

There’s a lot to like them but it’s not all positive with this Pakistan side, who as we know only too well, can blow hot and cold.

Which Pakistan side will show up in Australia?

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Pakistan’s Performance in 2021

When Pakistan beat India in the opening match of the 2021 World Cup, it was the first time the men in green had beaten the men in blue in 12 attempts at a World Cup!

India had beaten Pakistan six times in ODI World Cups and beaten them four times (with a tie that India went on to win anyway) in the T20 World Cup.

Bowling first, Pakistan restricted to India to a sub-par score of 151/7 after an excellent bowling display from star paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi, whose opening spell included the wickets of openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, then returning to also dismiss the set Virat Kohli.

They secured a good win over New Zealand, where once again Mohammed Rizwan top-scored, just like he had done against India.

But it was Afghanistan that gave them a real scare.

Chasing 148, they were in real trouble of being on the wrong end of a big upset when their Top 4 were all dismissed, Rashid Khan the main dangerman for the outsiders in taking 2/26, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman was even more economical.

So step forward Asif Ali, who hit four of the seven balls he faced for maximums and with that, the game was over with a nail-biting Pakistan win.

Their remaining matches against Namibia and Scotland were understandably straightforward affairs with Pakistan curiously scoring exactly 189 batting first in both matches and winning both comfortably.

In the semis, it was Australia they were up against and losing the toss was to prove a big factor.

They batted well to get to 176/4, that man Rizwan top-scoring once more, this time with 67.

In Australia’s chase, Shadab Khan bowled beautifully to claim 4/26 and Australia looked dead and buried. That was, until Matthew Wade entered the scene at Number Seven.

Wade started swinging for the rooftops and was well set, before being dropped. It was a costly mistake and Wade went on to finish with an unbeaten 41 off just 17; they ended up winning with an over to spare.

Pakistan had blown their chance of another World Cup final but Babar Azam had at least finished as the WC top runscorer, with 303 runs.

Pakistan’s Performance in 2017

Pakistan’s performance at the last World Cup wasn’t great. They finished just fourth out of five in the Group Stages, with just one win over Bangladesh to show for their efforts.

After that win, there was the customary loss at World Cups to India, a comprehensive defeat by 22 runs against New Zealand and another poor showing against Australia, where they conceded a huge 193/4 and were never really in contention during the chase.

In truth, it was a case of boasting a side that wasn’t up to the standard of previous ones at T20 World Cups. Shahid Afridi showed some naivety as skipper from a tactical point of view, while not really performing on an individual basis.

As for the rest of the side, Mohammad Hafeez and Sharjeel Khan each played one innings of substance with the bat, while Mohammad Sami was the best of a bad bunch with the ball.

This is a wildly different squad now to the one from 2016. There’s a very good chance that all-rounders Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez are the only survivors from that team who feature here again four years later.

That is unless Mohammad Amir reverses his decision to retire and makes himself available for his national team again. But don’t count on it.

Pakistan facts

• The now-retired (from international cricket) Shahid Afridi is the second top wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup with 39. Saeed Ajmal is fourth on 36.
• Afridi was man of the match in both the semi and final of the 2009 World Cup as they won it, scoring fifties in both matches.
• Pakistan were one boundary away from winning the first-ever T20 World Cup when Misbah Ul Haq was out caught to hand India the win.
• With a win percentage of 61.25%, they have the fourth-best win rate from across all teams at the T20 World Cup.
• Skipper Babar Azam and keeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan are currently ranked 3rd and 1st in the T20I ICC rankings respectively.
• But at the 2021 World Cup, the order was reversed in terms of where they finished in the run scoring charts: Azam was top with 303, Rizwan third with 281.
• No Pakistan player currently features in the ICC Top 10 for either bowling or all-rounders.

Captain: Babar Azam

Azam is currently ranked third in the ICC rankings but he was ranked 1 for a while over the last few years, proof of his reputation as arguably the most consistent batsman in the world in this format.

The thing about Azam in T20s is that he doesn’t play like most other batsmen. Rather than smashing a big six every few balls to get that strike rate up and occasionally getting out doing so, Azam just trusts his judgement, timing and shot selection.

The result is that he plays orthodox cricket shots, doesn’t hit many sixes but still maintains a very acceptable strike rate, whether that’s opening or batting at three.

Whatever he does or how he does it doesn’t stop him from scoring a load of runs. He was, after all, the top runscorer at last year’s World Cup with 303.

He had a notoriously quiet Asia Cup but hit back with an unbeaten 110 in September’s Series against England.

As captain, at least he’s popular with the other players, which hasn’t always been the case with former Pakistan skippers.