Pakistan have a rich history in the game of cricket but they have only managed to get their hands on the T20 World Cup trophy once and that was way back in 2009. It did look like they were primed for a repeat last year but they couldn’t hold off an Australia charge in the semi-final and paid the price. They remain a good T20 outfit though and will be looking for that ounce more luck and poise in the big moments to make them a significant challenger this year.
Profile
Captain: Babar Azam
Previous Best: Winners 2009
Best Odds: 9/1 General
Key Players: Babar Azam & Shaheen Shah Afridi
Group 2 Fixtures
Oct 23 vs India at Melbourne
Oct 27 vs Zimbabwe at Perth
Oct 30 vs Netherlands at Perth
Nov 3 vs South Africa at Sydney
Nov 6 vs Bangladesh at Adelaide
Squad
Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood. Standby Players: Usman Qadir, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani.
Team Guide
Pakistan would have been hoping to come to this tournament as the Asia Cup champions but they didn’t bargain on a top class run chase from Sri Lanka denying them in the final. Since then they have pushed England all the way in a T20 series and they have won a Tri-Series between New Zealand and Bangladesh in Christchurch so they come to this tournament with plenty of positive form behind them and potentially feeling very good about themselves.
The one issue people might have with Pakistan, apart from the fact they can completely implode now and again, is the fact that they will need three or four big players to have exceptionally good tournaments if they are to achieve their aim. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen though and if Pakistan can keep putting up half-decent totals with the bat then they could take a lot of stopping throughout this event.
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Betting
The Pakistan team markets both look to be two horse races. You have Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the batting department and then there is Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf in the bowling. I’ve no real interest in picking one of the two batters in what is effectively a 50:50 match at prices which aren’t too dissimilar to that. I will however get involved in the betting one and it is the latter that I like the look of here.
Afridi is just coming back from an injury which has kept him out of cricket for the last few months so I’m far from convinced he is going to play five matches in what is little more than a fortnight and I would imagine he will either miss the games against one or both of the qualifiers in the group or the last game against Bangladesh should Pakistan have already qualified for a semi-final spot. Either way, I expect Rauf to play a lot more than Afridi and so he gets the nod for me. Rauf has 23 wickets in 2022 at a strike rate of 15.4. 14 of those wickets have come in the series against England and the Tri-Series in New Zealand recently so he arrives in Australia in excellent form and has played on most of the grounds for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash. In a match I’ll take the bigger priced runner, particularly when there are legitimate claims for opposing the other horse.
Tips
Back H.Rauf Top Pakistan Tournament Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Betfair
