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TheLast week, England beat Pakistan by five wickets to win their second T20 World Cup and dash the Green Shirts’ dream of repeating the 1992 World Cup triumph.
England became the first team to hold both the T20 and 50 World Cups respectively simultaneously. They won the 50th World Cup on home soil in 2019 by defeating New Zealand.
In the eight editions of the T20 Cricket World Cup, no team has won the trophy. England and the West Indies are the teams that have won the title twice while India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia have won it once.
Although Pakistan lost the final, their bowling attack received acclaim not only from their fans but also from experts across the world for their fearless fighting while defending a sub-par total.
Defending 137 against the greatest batting side in a T20I, Pakistan continued to fight hard and it’s the credit of the bowlers that there are very few occasions when a team has defended less than 140 runs.
People say that if Pakistan scores around 150, the result may be different. If any other team had defended such a small aggregate, England would have finished the match in 15-16 overs as they did against India in the semi-final.
After the final match, captain Babar Azam agreed that Pakistan were 20 runs away while setting the target.
Shaheen’s injury was one of the reasons why Pakistan lost the match. His two unwanted combos could have changed the outcome.
In the semi-final against New Zealand, he took the wicket of Fen Allen in the opening and then Alex Hales in the first over of the final.
Pakistan will also miss his services in the home tests against England and New Zealand.
Pakistan was expected to come back before the semi-finals, but the Netherlands’ shock win over South Africa afforded them the chance to repeat the magic of the 1992 World Cup in Melbourne against the same opposition, but England proved they were truly world champions with the whites. a ball.
The failure of batting can be easily seen in most matches in the tournament. Pakistan lost the first match to India, failing to defend 158. Zimbabwe shocked the Greens in the next match as the batting faltered again, failing to chase a modest target of 130.
Pakistan’s first win came against little Holland, but they lost four wickets while chasing just 92 runs. Wisdom came out against South Africa and Bangladesh very comfortably. A comprehensive victory came in the semi-final against New Zealand when openers Babar and Rizwan delivered a century opening stand.
In the final, Pakistan looked set to post a tough total when they had 84 runs on the board for the loss of just two wickets and at the end of 11, 119-4 after 16 overs.
Shan Masood and Shadab Khan pitched 36 runs off 25 balls which paved the ground for a huge goal, but unfortunately, the last three well-known batsmen such as Shan Masood, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz were caught trying to bounds.
Pakistan never recovered from that point. 160 could easily have been achieved, if the batsmen had scored 10 runs apiece. A score over 160 points is considered more than competitive at the MCG.
But the men in green only managed 18 runs for the loss of four wickets in their last four innings – less than five runs apiece.
The Pakistani batsmen play spinners very well, but in the final match, the Pakistani batsmen fail to tackle the English bowler Adil Rashid. He not only stopped the flow of runs but also dismissed Mohammed Haris and skipper Babar Azam. Rashid finished 2-20 in four starts.
For more than a year, Pakistan had been in great trouble in the middle-order division and had failed to play modern cricket in the power play.
Shadab Khan’s 50 against South Africa from No. 7 proved he could be used as a pinch hitter in the middle when needed.
Shadab came to strike when there was only one part left. After that Curran and Jordan were left four. They did not allow the Pakistani batsmen to collect runs across the border.
Only 8 fours and 6 sixes were hit by the Pakistani batsmen in their 20 overs in the final while the England batsmen hit 14 boundaries and a six in chasing the target.
If Pakistan is to dominate the T20Is, management must find at least one key launch master like Alex Hales, Jos Buttler or Quinton de Kock.
Only five batsmen have scored more than 200 runs in the T20 World Cup. Indian batsman Virat Kohli was leading with 296 runs in six matches with four fifties, at an average of 98.66 and a strike rate of 136.40.
Surprisingly, Maxwell Patrick O’Dowd of the Netherlands left behind other notable batsmen, scoring 242 runs.
The others were India’s Suryakumar Yadav (239), England captain Joss Butter (225) and Alex Hales (212).
No Pakistani batter has reached 200 runs. Wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood scored 175 runs each at an average of 25.0 and 43.75 respectively.
Skipper Babbar Azam made 124 runs with fifty overs at an average of just 17.71 and a strike rate of just 93.23. Behind the captain were Iftikhar Ahmed (114) and Shadib Khan (98).
Fresh sensation Muhammad Haris Khan showed off his batting skills in a short span of time with a batting average of 144.77. He hit 6 sixes and 6 fours in four innings.
Before the World Cup, no one knew Mohamed Haris. Fakhar Zaman’s injury opened the door for him. With a brave innings against South Africa, he suddenly became a sensation.
On the bowling front, Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka has taken over 15 wickets at an average of 13.26 in eight matches.
England’s Sam Curran and Bas de Leeds of the Netherlands took 13 wickets each, at averages of 11.38 and 13 respectively.
For Pakistan, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shadab Khan took 11 wickets each at an average of 14.09 and 15 respectively. Haris Rauf managed 8 wickets at an average of 22.25.
With the only wicket coming in the final, the multi-scorer Shadab Khan became the highest wicket-taker for Pakistan in the T20 format with 98 wickets. He left behind 97 scalps of former captain Shahid Afridi.
The 24-year-old leg-spinner reached the milestone of his 84th T20 career while Shahid Afridi took the record in 98 matches.
Shadab Khan scored 98 runs at a strike rate of 168.96 and took 11 wickets at an average of 15 runs at an economy rate of 6.34.
The eighth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), one of the most popular T20 tournaments, will start from February 9, 2023. Six teams are scheduled to participate in the tournament. PCB management and selectors should pay attention to young players, especially opening players who have the ability to score, and are quickly running into the power play so that they can become part of the national team.
The Greenshirts must learn how to score more than 170-180 runs since players can’t defend 150 pitches at a time. Batsmen must take responsibility and quickly learn to deal with pressure in unfavorable conditions.
Pakistan cricket now needs some fresh faces to help gain momentum, especially in T20 cricket. Not just the openers, but the mids too, some match finishers like Hardik Pandya, Ben Stokes, Marcus Stoinis and David Miller are to be spotted.
The team needs a strong batting coach who knows the demands of modern cricket and can coach youngsters for international matches.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has time to scout fresh talents and prepare them for the demands of modern cricket so that they can stand on the podium of victory in the upcoming T20 World Cup to be hosted by the United States and West Indies in 2024.
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