Pakistan still stands by scoring roughly par and relying on their top-notch bowling attack to defend it, game after game, in a format when the majority of top teams have learned to rely on their batting powerhouse outgunning the opposition.
Due to the lack of a genuine seam-bowling all-rounder, Pakistan’s T20 strategy may have come under further criticism following their last-ball loss to India on Sunday, in their T20 World Cup opener.
Pakistan with the best bowling attacks in the world cup
Pakistan still cusses by scoring just about par and relying on their high-quality bowling attack to defend it, game after game, in a format where most top sides have come to rely on their batting heavyweights outgunning the opposition – India has almost been forced to adopt a more aggressive batting approach after their 2021 T20 World Cup debacle.
When Pakistani bowlers of the caliber they possess are setting up the game, there is little doubt that the tactic has been successful more often than not. Pakistan has won 10 games while chasing a target since the 2021 T20 World Cup, losing only three times, and their bowlers rarely end up giving up more than they should.
Strike rate is an issue amongst the batters
Since the 2021 T20 World Cup, they have only won six times when they batted first, making it their eighth defeat overall. Whereas batting first during this time, Pakistan’s batsmen have only managed to score at a strike rate of 127.22, while the top three teams—England, India, and South Africa—have achieved rates of 152.77, 148.06, and 146.74, respectively.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been Pakistan’s most productive opening combo in T20Is. Sunday’s game was a rare defeat for the tandem against the new ball, and it was primarily Iftikhar Ahmed’s credit that Pakistan posted 160.
When India needed 48 runs off the last three overs, two were bowled by Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf. Both death bowlers failed against Virat Kohli’s destructive innings.
Lack of resources
Pakistan’s shortcomings became apparent at this point. After Kohli and Hardik Pandya hit three sixes in Mohammad Nawaz’s third over, the 12th of the India innings, they removed him from the attack. By the end of the 19th over, Pakistan had hoped that Afridi and Rauf would put India’s chances of winning out of the question.
Compare this to how India, with Pandya present, was able to adjust after one of their bowlers had a bad day. Similar to Nawaz, Axar Patel went for runs in the 12th over of Pakistan’s batting innings. However, because Pandya could be counted on to bowl his entire allotted four overs, India was able to completely remove Axar from the attack after the one expensive over; in fact, they only needed the other spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, to bowl three overs because they didn’t employ him, after the 15th.
Pakistan has spin-bowling all-rounders – Shadab Khan, Nawaz, and even Iftikhar Ahmed can bowl off-spin – better suited to Asian conditions. But, their closest seam-bowling all-rounder is Mohammad Wasim, who averages 20 in T20Is and 25 in ODIs and can be bought into the playing XI.
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