This topic has become a hot one after last night where Pakistan lost by 1 run to Zimbabwe and effectively their world cup campaign is over and they are only hanging by other teams and if they lose their next match vs Netherlands then they are out of the World Cup. There are a variety of reasons for this kind of performance which we will try to list below in the article because nobody expected Zimbabwe to beat Pakistan.
Pakistan came into this World Cup with solid preparation behind them and they were looking to do one better than they did last year where they reached the semi final. They almost had the same team as last year and the 2 best batters and the best bowling attack in the world. So, let’s look at the reasons that led to this
Overdependence on Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan
This is one of the major reasons that Pakistan have not done well in this tournament and it is because these 2 best batters in the world make almost more than half of the runs that Pakistan make in this format. They are the most prolific batting pair and when they do not make runs like they have not been able to do in this World Cup then it is a big problem for team Pakistan. Babar Azam and Rizwan are the backbone and their not scoring runs has resulted in this. And their middle order is not as good as these 2 so they are not able to contribute much.
Playing defensive batting cricket
One more thing which we have seen is the defensive batting approach of Pakistan and this has led them to make low Scores and especially by their middle order who have no attacking players who can take the match away from the opposition with a strike rate of 150 plus. Babar and Rizwan also play with just over 120 strike rate and that is not good enough. They need to go all out just like the other teams and they will make big Scores.
An unfit Shaheen Shah Afridi
This is also one of the most important reasons why Pakistan has not done well in this World Cup. Shaheen Shah Afridi was their biggest strength in bowling and since the last few months he has been injured and he was receiving treatment. In the 8 overs he has bowled in this World Cup he has gone wicketless which is shocking and his speeds have also dropped by a margin.
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Selection issues
This is another big problem that Pakistan does not play the team that is the best and some players are picked and dropped based on their wishes and not on merit. The batting line-up is a big example of that and in the middle order players who could have played attacking cricket were ignored and their batting line-up is also not correct and Babar should play at 3. And they took 3 unfit players in the 15 so they are playing with 12.
