Babar Azam, Shaheen have big roles to play: 5 areas Pakistan needs to work on to survive in T20 World Cup

Indian all but stamped their ticket to the ICC T20 World Cup semifinals with their nail-biting victory over Bangladesh on Wednesday, but how did it impact arch-rivals Pakistan’s chances?

The former champions find themselves in the fifth position in the Group 2 table with just two points from three matches with only a mathematical chance.

To qualify they will need to win both their remaining matches against South Africa (2nd behind India) today and Bangladesh (3rd) and hope that South Africa lose to the Netherlands.

Considering Pakistan beat South Africa and Bangladesh, they have a slim outside chance should India lose to Zimbabwe by a big margin in their last group match which will drop their overall run-rate below that of Pakistan.

Here are five areas that Pakistan need to address to keep alive their hopes of staying in the tournament and progressing to the make-or-break knock-out stage.

The Babar Azam factor

The man from Lahore has disappointed fans with his inability to lead from the front, made worse by the team’s humiliating one-run loss to Zimbabwe in the Super 12 stage on Thursday.

The pressure to perform appears to have affected his batting in the tournament which is far below expectations. While most teams boast aggressive opening batsmen Azam has been unable to take the fight to the rivals leaving experts to believe that he does not fit T20 cricket’s crucial position.

To redeem his reputation, he must show better leadership qualities that will inspire his team to rally around him and lift the squad’s overall performance.

Fielding and catching

The overall standard of fielding at the T20 World Cup has been exceptional, particularly in the catching department where Kiwi Glen Phillips set a high standard when he took a blinder to dismiss Australian Marcus Stoinis.

Collectively the men in green have been caught out time and again with slips and misses and the inability to convert half-chances into key dismissals.

If catches win matches then Pakistan need to raise their game and demonstrated that they are prepared to do whatever it takes on the field to win back their dwindling chances and fans.

Poor strike rate of openers

Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam boast one of the highest opening averages since they became a team in 2021, but have not lived up to their reputation at this World Cup.

Between them Rizwan and Azam have scored over 2087 runs in 43 innings for an impressive strike rate of over 50 percent, yet, they have been unable to translate this form in Australia.

Modern T20 cricket has created a new breed of opening batters who go out intending to dominate their bowling and take the game by the scruff of the neck.

This is not how Rizwan and Azam have performed so far, and it will be interesting to see if they have left their best for the last in a bid for survival.

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