As we enter the month of the T20 Cricket World Cup there are lots of headlines and breaking news about the teams and their squads. The teams of the Super 12 have a chance to change their squads till 16th October.
As we all know Pakistan cricket is famous for giving something out of the box every time same they have done while selecting the world cup squad and are expected to do something out of the box by changing some players in the squad announced prior. When the Pakistan cricket team squad was announced it left people amazed that how some players with no or little performance got their name in the T20 world cup squad.
Here we have a look, should we need to make some changes in the T20 world cup squad or not. The squad selected for the T20 world cup is:
Babar Azam (Captain), Shadab Khan (Vice-Captain), Muhammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Imad Wasim, Muhammad Hafeez, Azam Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Wasim Jnr, Muhammad Hasnain. Travelling Reserves: Shahnawaz Dhani, Fakhar Zaman and Usman Qadir.
There was a debate around the names of Asif Ali, Azam Khan and Khushdil Shah when the squad was announced because they were selected in the squad even without some noticeable performances. In the ongoing National T20 cup Asif Ali has shown some form by scoring some handy runs at the strike rate of 195 (highest for batsmen scoring more than 50 runs) with 6 fours and 6 sixes. But the performance of Khushdil Shah and Azam Khan is still poor. Khushdil Shah has scored 96 runs in 5 innings at an average of 19.20 and strike rate of 118. 51 while Azam Khan has scored 55 runs in 5 innings at an average of 11 and strike rate of 122. 22.
There are some other names who were selected on merit but their performances are dipping in the ongoing National T20 cup which is a concern for the Pakistan team. One of them is Muhammad Hasnain. He took 5 wickets in 5 innings at an average of 28 and an economy rate of 10. Shadab Khan’s form is also a worry for the team as he took only 3 wickets in 5 matches at an average of 45 and an economy rate of 7.94.
In all this, some people are saying to add Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Fakhar Zaman to the team but are their performances satisfactory? Let’s have a look. Shoaib Malik scored 55 runs in 2 innings at an average of 55 with a strike rate of 134.14 but we think two matches are not enough to add Malik to the T20 world cup squad as he had a poor CPL 2021 also where he scored 67 runs in 10 innings at an average of 7.44 and strike rate of 59.82.
Wahab Riaz in the National T20 cup took 7 wickets in 4 innings at an average of 12.75 and economy rate of 6.76 and he also had a decent CPL but we think Shahnawaz Dhani deserve more chance as he was a leading wicket-taker of PSL 2021 and also highest wicket-taker of National T20 cup. Sarfaraz Ahmad has scored 124 runs in 5 innings at an average of 41. 33 and strike rate of 125. 5. Fakhar Zaman has scored 76 runs in 3 innings at an average of 25.33 and strike rate of 122. (These stats are till the 14th match of the National T20 Cup)
If PCB really wants to have some changes in the squad then these should be Iftikhar Ahmed for Azam Khan as he can hit the ball long and can also bowl some handy overs and the biggest thing is he also showing good form in domestic cricket.
Aamir Yamin for Khushdil Shah as he is showing great skills both with bat and ball in the ongoing National T20 cup. Usman Qadir for Shadab Khan as Shadab Khan’s performance dipped a lot in the recent past and Shahnawaz Dhani in place of Muhammad Hassnain.
That was our perspective but whoever plays for Pakistan we wish them the best of luck and hope that they will show some fight.
