ICC #CT17 Team Preview; Pakistan

Hammad Shakil

Synopsis

Having been put to play in an event they favour the least, not much would be expected of Pakistan when they begin their CT17 expedition against India on the 4th of June. Pakistan never really made the ICC Champions Trophy (or ICC KnockOut per se) theirs, fielding squads over the years donning the delightful jerseys only to make it to the airports real fast, faster and earlier than most, or all. No team, barring Bangladesh and the associates, has played less games than Pakistan in the history of Champions Trophy. Pakistan were the first team to be knocked out from the last tournament (the only team to lose all three group matches), and barely made the cut this time around. In the months following the World Cup 2015, they hit their lowest bottom in the ODI rankings ever, only to jump one position up to stay in contention for direct qualification in the World Cup 2019, also to be played in England. They will enter the Champions Trophy as the lowest ranked team and for Sarfraz Ahmed to say they have nothing to lose, that seems nothing but true, except for maintaining their 8th ranking till the 30th of September.



But this is where THE Pakistan stands up for the world to see. No one is ever sure which Pakistan would turn up on a particular day, making them predictably unpredictable. Of Pakistan, it sure can be safely said that they can defy all the numbers and odds and are known for producing and manufacturing vastly startling performances cometh the hour.



Squad

Sarfraz Ahmed (C & WK), Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Shadab Khan, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz



Their span post-World Cup 2015 hasn’t been their greatest of the stories, and recently seems to have heavily dented by the alleged inclusion of their pinch-hitter, the only member to keep up with the modern ODI numbers, Sharjeel Khan in the PSL spot fixing case, who currently is provisionally suspended by the PCB. In Fahim Ashraf, they seem to have found another bloke with an ability to hit some big runs, though he classifies himself as more of a bowling all-rounder. With a bowling line-up sporting Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan and Hasan Ali, offering genuine swing, pace, swing and seam, they can fancy their chance of bowling out the oppositions with help from the latest PSL sensation Shadab Khan of course, while a few tidy overs from Mohammad Hafeez can be of great help. Statistically, their numbers have been among the worst in recent times, but given their day, they can be as good as any other attack in the world.



Recent Form

In their latest assignment, Pakistan swamped over the West Indies, after the latter’s come-from-behind victory in the first ODI. Previously, they were handed a 4-1 drilling each in England & Australia, but on a positive note, both their victories were thoroughly deserved and well fought. In England, they chased down their first ever 300+ total outside Asia, while in Australia at the MCG, they restricted Australia to a mere 220.



Last 10 matches vs top 8

L L L W L W L L L L



Strength

With the batting line-up surrounding around Babar Azam for quite a while now, Pakistan will take confidence in his rich ODI form over the months, where he became the joint-fastest to 1000 ODI runs ever, racked up 3 successive centuries against the West Indies before notching up a century in Australia too, followed by another century vs the former. He was unimpressive in his maiden international tour to England last year, and will hope to better his numbers in Europe, where he currently 25.16 in 6 innings. How Pakistan fare in the #CT17 will depend highly on the form of Babar Azam, and huge onus will be on him how he approaches the pressure. With an average in excess of 55, he has scored most runs among Pakistan batsmen since the WC 2015, while around the world, only David Warner & Quinton de Kock have scored more centuries than his 5 in this period.  



Hasan Ali has been a bright prospect for Pakistan ever since he was handed his debut in 2016. With 29 wickets in 16 games, he enters the tournament as Pakistan’s highest wicket taker since the WC 2015. Having picked up two five-fors in 2017 will surely serve as a confidence booster for him and his ability to move the ball given the conditions will surely be helpful and instrumental in Pakistan’s outing in the tournament. One aspect of him where Pakistan will be wary is his ER of 5.87, 5th highest among all bowlers to have taken at least 25 wickets since the last WC. But where Pakistan have struggled overall as a bowling unit in the last couple of years, this should be neither surprising nor worrying.   



Weakness

Ever since the retirement of Shahid Afridi, Pakistan have been missing a late order punch hitter and have failed to keep up with the demands of modern ODI cricket, clearly lagging behind all the other teams mainly in the last phase of an ODI innings. While their middle overs. Since the last WC against the top 8 teams, their average score batting first has been 261, batting second it has been 244, while 251 overall. With all the other teams setting the standards for scoring and chasing 300 on continuous basis, Pakistan have lagged terribly behind in this regard.



FASTAT

3 – the number of times Pakistan have qualified for the semi-finals of CT

0 – times have Pakistan failed to make the finals of CT, making them the team to play most semi-finals without playing a final in the history of CT

5 – the number of successive games Pakistan have lost so far CT, their worst streak in the history of the tournament

18 – the number of games played by Pakistan in the CT, the lowest for any team, barring Bangladesh and the associates, highlighting the point of them never reaching the finals

0.636 – the W/L ratio of Pakistan in the history of CT, easily the lowest among all teams except Ban & associates. In fact, Pakistan are the only team to have this ratio below 1, of course excluding Ban, Zim & associates

15 – games played by Shoaib Malik in the CT, making him the most experienced member of Pakistan team, though he has averaged just 25.07 for his 326 runs

2 – the number of Pakistan players to score a century in CT, Shoaib Malik (1) comes second to Saeed Anwar (2)

10 – wickets taken by Shoaib Malik in the CT, the most among current Pakistan squad. Mohammad Amir comes next with 6

3205 – runs scored by Pak batsmen in CT, all other teams, barring Ban, Zim & associates, have scored in excess of 4000

25.13 – the average of Pak batsmen in the history of CT, the lowest except Ban, Zim & associates.

4.57 – the run rate of Pak batsmen in CT history, the lowest barring Ban, Zim & associates

(The following stats are post WC 2015 and against the top 8 teams)

5.96 – the ER at which Pakistan bowlers have conceded runs. Only India and Sri Lanka have conceded runs at a higher ER than Pakistan among the teams playing the CT

5.39 – the run rate at which Pakistan have scored. Among the 8 teams participating, only Sri Lanka have scored at lower RPO

0.333 – the W/L ratio of Pakistan, second worst after Sri Lanka

1 – the number of series won by Pakistan in this period, out of the 6 they played

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