World Twenty20: 'Pakistan can help Shahid Afridi finish on a high'

Pakistan are in poor form, have out-of-sorts batsmen and a depleted spin attack, says guest writer Saj Sadiq of www.pakpassion.net, but they CAN win the World T20 for inspirational captain Shahid Afridi…

On a beautiful Kolkata evening on April 3, in front of thousands of cheering spectators, and witnessed by millions around the globe, a grateful and proud Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi lifts the ICC World Twenty20 trophy.

It's been a tumultuous few months leading up to this momentous occasion for a team of mavericks, who until this tournament, have never looked like world-beaters with consecutive 20-overs series defeats to England and New Zealand and a disastrous Asia Cup campaign to boot.

The nation rejoices and Shahid Afridi bows out from international cricket with a victory of great proportions which a cricket-mad country will treasure for many years.

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This is indeed a fairytale finish to the ICC World Twenty20 of 2016 and a fitting farewell to Shahid Afridi that many in Pakistan will hope to see - but even the most fanatical of their supporters will understand the magnitude of the leap of faith required for this dream to come true.

Let's start with some recent history first - as if the series losses to Bangladesh, England and New Zealand within the last 12 months and then a disastrous Asia Cup were not bad enough news for Pakistan, the chaotic build-up to the World Twenty20 due to security issues could well have knocked the wind out of any group of players.

Coming back to the recent cricket performances, it is true that there have been flashes of brilliance here and there, though the overall standard of cricket from this team has been well below par. The performances have been bereft and deficient of any confidence, planning and aggression and a ranking of seven is not inaccurate.

While the form of several players is an issue, it is widely agreed that the 15-man squad is more or less the best the selectors could have chosen, although the route taken to achieve this goal may have been rather circuitous. The picking and dropping of Khurram Manzoor and vice versa for Ahmed Shehzad being the prime example of this painful approach to build a squad which, on paper, has some merit.

With Indian pitches known for aiding spin, it is a fact that there are still issues with Pakistan's spin department. A spin attack heavily reliant upon Shahid Afridi, an unproven Mohammad Nawaz and an out-of-sorts Imad Wasim hardly fills anyone with confidence.

If we look at Pakistan's Twenty 20 performances in previous World Cups, spin has played a massive and crucial part in their success. In addition there is the small matter of the absence of Pakistan's spin hero of old, Saeed Ajmal, from whose absence the team has not recovered completely.

Add to that the current ban on Mohammad Hafeez's bowling and one gets the impression that spin will not be Pakistan's main weapon in this World Cup. With Yasir Shah also cooling his heels on the back of an ICC ban, Pakistan will need to have Shahid Afridi firing and will pray and hope that the young back-up spinners will provide adequate back-up to the skipper in the spin department.

Pakistan's pace attack, however, is a completely different kettle of fish. Led by the superb and ever-improving Mohammad Amir and containing in-form pace aces Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Sami, with the dangerous Wahab Riaz, the pace quartet has the ability of changing any game very quickly. If runs are put up on the board by the batsmen, Pakistan's pace bowlers have the ability to defend any decent total.

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While the pace attack has variety and experience, with each member keenly aware of their role, the same cannot be said with any degree of confidence about Pakistan's brittle batting line-up.

If the shocking batting performances of late are any guide, Pakistan batsmen have the ability to render any good performance of the bowling attack and negate any advantage their hard work brings to the table. The bowling will only be useful if the team is capable of posting or chasing good totals.

Mohammad Hafeez's questionable form, Ahmed Shehzad's inability to rotate the strike, Shahid Afridi's non-existent batting contributions and Shoaib Malik's on and off cameos, are all massive problems that Pakistan will have to contend with.

The issue will be compounded on flat pitches if none of these batsmen fire and while Umar Akmal and Sarfraz Ahmed have been great fighters of late, they cannot be relied upon to rescue the team every time.

If the fairytale is to come true, a spell of magic is necessary to provide the batting performances which the bowlers will gladly defend or use to their advantage.

The truth is that Pakistan's batting has consistently failed lately and in a very tough group, and facing some quality bowling attacks, if the batting continues to misfire, Pakistan may well fail to progress in the group stages.

If recent performances are any guide then purely from the team's point of view and considering their poor form, getting out of the group may well be the only success Pakistan can hope for.

However despite the chaos, confusion and poor form, Pakistan cricket teams have the ability to astound and surprise. Their best performances are usually saved in the face of adversity.

The class of 2016 may not be among the favourites at the World Twenty20, but write this team off at your peril.

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