Pakistan’s Cheif Selector Muhammad Wasim just announced the Squad for the upcoming T20 WC in UAE and Oman. A lot of disagreements came towards him. In meanwhile, Pakistan’s Head Coach and Bowling resigned as well.
Social Media gave a lot of hate to this unexpected squad as well. What was the reason for all this stuff? Let’s know about this using our stats Graph.
Pakistan’s T20 WC 2021 Squad
The squad will be lead by the number second T20i batsman in the world right now, Babar Azam. Shadab Khan is been out of form for a long time but still managed to be vice-captain of this team. Muhammad Rizwan was named as the first Wicket keeping choice while Azam Khan is going as reserved wicket-keeper.
The point that raised the questions here is that the reserved wicket-keeper, who came in instead of Sarfraz Ahmed, was not even the part of National High-Performance Center. Azam was playing CPL at that time and performed there as well. Sarfraz was replaced by Muhammad Haris in ODIs and is now replaced by Azam Khan in T20is.
No Fakhar Zaman neither Sharjeel Khan is selected in this squad. Fakhar Zaman is in traveling reserves but not directly a part of this squad. The same goes for Shahnawaz Dhani and Usman Qadir.
All-rounder, Faheem Ashraf, who had the best economy rate in UAE among these selected players is dropped as well. Sohaib Maqsood is still selected after being unable to perform at the international level. Asif Ali and Khuhshdil shah made a come back from nowhere.
Let’s Check the stats and ranking of each of these players.
Babar Azam
No one can doubt Babar Azam’s ability to win the game from any stage. Consistency is what Babar loves. At a very young age, He has already scored the third-most number of runs for Pakistan in T20is and is obviously the number one ranked ODI batsman as well.
Talking of his raking, he is just a few points behind England’s David Malan, who is the number one T20i batsman in the world. Babar’s ranking points decreased after 3 matches were washed out due to rain in West Indies.
Talking of his current form, he scored the most number of runs in the recent series against West Indies. Not only in T20is, but he was also the leading runs scorer in test matches as well.
We all know Babar has achieved a lot of things already in his career and now it is the right time for him to left a big trophy for his team and the nation. He is also our Player to watch at the T20 World Cup 2021.
Muhammad Rizwan
Muhammad Rizwan, the Superman of Pakistan Cricket, is already the leading run-scorer in this t20is this year. Not only this year but he has already scored the most number of runs in T20is in a calendar year. He opens the innings for Pakistan and knows very well how to keep going.
Muhammad Rizwan was also the second most run scorer of this year’s PSL. Rizwan mostly starts his innings slow but remains steady. He always likes to play long and stay at the crease for most.
Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan have already scored 150+ partnerships twice in T20is. Even though they have played very few times with each other. Muhammad Rizwan is really a busy player at the crease and obviously, no one can doubt his wicket-keeping and catching skills.
Shadab Khan
The vice-captain of team Pakistan is a bit out of form for the last one and a half years. But his overall record is really fine and also has brilliant leadership skills that can help Babar Azam a lot. We witnessed those skills during PSL 6 when Islamabad United became the first team to win 8 matches in group stages of PSL.
He is still young and energetic. The most important aspect of Shadab Khan is his fielding. Pakistan is been a very average team in fielding throughout history. Still, there are a lot of problems in our fielding units. But Shadab is the one who is very accurate in the field and is very strong-minded as well.
Who can forget when he took Virat Kohli’s magnificent catch at gully in Champions Trophy Final. He has improved his batting to a big extent as well and has won few matches with his batting too. He will have a big impact on team Pakistan in this World Cup.
Asif Ali
Asif Ali’s selection raised a lot of questions on the selection committee. He has been given a lot of chances in international cricket but he failed to have an impact. Asif Ali has played a total of 27 T20i innings and had failed in almost all of them.
No doubt he has performed well in the domestic circuit and national leagues. But his stats show that he is been unable to have an impact internationally. Asif Ali was also hit the most number of sixes in this year’s PSL as well and he has again got an opportunity to perform for his team.
Azam Khan
Azam Khan is the most in-experienced player in this squad. Azam has played only 5 T20i matches and has batted only 3 times. He has scored only 6 international runs. He is not only going as a batsman with this squad but is also a reserved wicket-keeper as well.
Muhammad Rizwan will remain Pakistan’s first wicket-keeping choice but in case of any emergency, Azam khan can replace him. Looking at his T20 record, his strike rate says it all. A very healthy strike rate of 149.92 makes him a very dangerous batsman for the bowlers.
Azam Khan was also named as the best wicket-keeper of the tournament in a domestic cup. A big point of concern is that he has replaced Pakistan’s former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed. Sarfaraz was already finding it difficult to manage his place in the team and now Azam has replaced him.
Haris Rauf
Haris Rauf is still finding his best possible role in the T20s. Haris Rauf was the leading wicket-taker in the past year. His death bowling economy is been exceptional as well. But in recent times he is also been leaking runs so easily.
When Pakistan and England meet last time in a T20i series Liam Livingstone hit Haris Rauf for England’s longest six in international cricket. From there he was dropped from the team and now managed to get back. Haris is been performing well for Lahore Qalandars but the international level has another impact.
If Haris Rauf manages to get himself in the playing XI, there will be a big role for him in the team to make or break.
Hassan Ali
To perform well at the World Cup, Pakistan will need Hassan Ali to turn his generator up for the upcoming matches. Hassan Ali is also in a good form in the current days. He is been so good from his comeback to now.
Not only his bowling but he is also been a big six-hitter for team Pakistan as well. He is working a lot on his batting too. Looking at his T20i record it is brilliant too. He is one of the 9 bowlers to get 50+ T20i wickets for Pakistan.
Hassan has got 4 wicket haul once in T20is as well.
Imad Wasim
Imad Wasim is counted among the most economical bowler of Pakistan. He is also the only spinner from Pakistan to take a 5 wicket haul in T20is. His track record in UAE is also impressive and this is the main reason to call him back to the squad.
Imad’s batting strike rate is very high as well. This gives him an edge over other all-rounders as too. Imad is been the number 1 bowler in T20is as well and has remained in the top 10 for a long time too. But he is been dropped down in ranked after being out of the team for a long period of time.
Khushdil Shah
Here comes another big hitter of the ball. Khusudil Shah’s biggest achievement is his fastest century for Pakistan at the national level. He scored a fascinating and quick century for Southern Punjab in National T20 Cup 2020. Khusdil took only 36 balls to reach the mark.
Talking of international level, Khushdil is been to pull up the gear for team Pakistan. He has scored 130 T20i runs only and has a low strike rate of 109.24 only.
Khusidil is given the responsibility of finish the innings in this year’s world cup for Pakistan. We hope he will prove his worth this time.
Muhammad Hafeez
With 113 matches, Professor is the most experienced player in this Pakistani Squad. Muhammad Hafeez is the leading run-scorer for Pakistan in the T20is. He is not the leading run-scorer but has also taken the 4th most number of wickets for Pakistan too.
Hafeez will be the key guy for Pakistan in the tournament. He is not having a good year in terms of scoring runs but is doing well with the ball. Recently he bowled his most economical bowling spell in T20is against West Indies.
Hafeez is also doing well with the ball in CPL as too. Professor will play the world cup after turning 41.
Muhammad Hasnain
Muhammad Hasnain is also one of those guys who are very off-and-on when comes to performance. Match-winner on their day also can be worst next day. Muhammad Hasnain is the youngest bowler to take a T20i hat-trick as well.
The man edge that Hasnain has over other bowlers is his pace. He was declared as the emerging player of PSL 4. He has 17 wickets in 17 matches to his name.
Muhammad Nawaz
Muhammad Nawaz is another bowling all-rounder for Pakistan. He is also the competitor of Imad Wasim as both of them are a sort of same players. Nawaz is been unable to make an impact as a batsman but has done well recently with the ball.
A lot of questions were raised when he was dropped from the side after performing well. But now he is back and we’ll soon see him back in action as well.
Muhammad Wasim Jr
Here is another young man going to this year’s World Cup with Pakistan. Muhammad Wasim Jr is the most experienced player in this squad just like Azam Khan. He has played only 3 international games and a total of 15 T20 games.
Wasim gets a benefit for his selection due to his batting skills. He can bat as well which will give depth to Pakistan’s batting lineup as well. Wasim will not likely be the first choice for Pakistan to get into the Playing XI.
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Here is Pakistan’s leading fast bowler right now. Shaheen Shah has experience of 30 T20i matches at the age of just 21. He is quick and accurate with a lot of varieties.
Shaheen Shah will be the pure match-winner for Pakistan in this year’s WC. No one can doubt his current form. He gets out of touch very rarely since his debut. Shaheen is also a safe fielder now whom Babar can believe very easily.
Sohaib Maqsood
Sohaib Maqsood is been a fine domestic performer for the last 2 years. he was also named as the Player of the Tournament in PSL 6. After that, he got a call back to the Pakistan team but was unable to perform as he was supposed to be.
After his poor performance on return, he still managed to get into Pakistan’s Squad. The reason was the lag in Pakistan’s middle order. Sohaib Maqsood is supposed to play one down in the upcoming series and world cup for Pakistan.
Final Words
After selecting this young and un-experienced squad team Pakistan can be anything. They are already called in un-predictable and the same goes for now. This reminds everyone of the Indian team back in 2007 that was lead by MS Dhoni. We wish the Pakistan team best wishes for the upcoming big tournament.
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