Bengaluru: Pakistan cricket is facing turbulent times currently thanks to the long list of excuses they have produced for a below-par performance so far in the tournament. Pakistan have won three matches while losing four but scanning through the opposition will reveal the sorry saga behind the performance of the Pakistan cricket team. The team defeated the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh but failed to outplay unbeaten India, mighty Australians, a toughened-up Afghanistan, and a rampaging South Africa.
Six points from seven games and they are still in the race to finish in the top four along with New Zealand, Australia, and Afghanistan. Mohammed Rizwan and Abdullah Shafique have been the shining light in the realm of adversities for the Pakistan national side averaging above 50. Rizwan is the seventh-highest run-getter in the tournament with a tally of 359 runs from seven innings with an average of 71.80. On the other hand, Shafique has amassed 332 runs with an average of 55.33. It is the brilliance of this duo that has played a role in keeping Pakistan alive in the race to the semi-final despite dishing out a dismal show.
Shaheen Afridi roared back in form in the previous fixture against Bangladesh troubling batters with his swinging deliveries and also being lethal in death overs with a hint of reverse swing. Also, Haris Rauf has been picking wickets in spite of the economy being an issue for him.
These are the positive factors but negatives overshadow the positives in Pakistan's report card. Pakistan are constantly grilled in the tournament for not stepping up to the expectations from them before the commencement of the marquee tournament. First, their campaign sustained a blow with an injury to Naseem Shah and that weakened the bowling attack. Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi have delivered to some extent but looking at the spin department makes the case worse.
Be it Shadab Khan or Usama Mir or Mohammad Nawaz or Iftikhar Ahmed, spinners have been short of wickets in the ongoing ICC events. Further, their performance is marred by controversy with off-the-field developments. First, the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) is engulfed in a lot of controversy at present. And their issues still persist in the aspects of gameplay and it was evident in the game against New Zealand as well. The team didn't feature any regular spinner in the lineup so they have to depend on Iftikhar Ahmed to wear spinner's hat on a regular basis. Also, the team chose to field first in spite of their knack for crumbling under pressure caused by a huge total on the scoreboard.
A clear path to enter the semi-final for Pakistan will be to beat New Zealand and England in the upcoming games and reach 10 points. However, they will also have to make sure that they end up on a better net run rate than the other two teams who can get to the same number of points when the league stage concludes.
Now, in case Pakistan wins the ongoing fixture against New Zealand and loses their last league-stage game, they will have to rely on the other match results. The team will end up with eight points as a result. Further, they will hope that either New Zealand, Australia or Afghanistan lose all their remaining match. In such a scenario two teams are going to land on the same number of points. However, Pakistan will have to take care of the net run rate in this situation as well and register big victories in all of their remaining games.
Overall, Pakistan have survived in the semi-final race inspite of a dismal show but their chances are of entering the top four are hanging by thread and the New Zealand have the power to pull down that threat to script Men in Green's exit from the tournament.
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