Pakistan’s Squad:
Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan.
Pakistan are placed in Group B with India, Ireland, USA and Canada.
Strengths
Experienced bowlers: Pakistan is such a team that we can see well-equipped bowlers who have the potential to tackle situations like Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. The return of Mohammed Amir will surely help the bowling lineup to align things properly. Shaheen Shah Afridi brings great experience to the squad as he is the leading wicket-taker for the team and being a left-arm pacer it is difficult to judge his bowl.
Well-experienced batters: Pakistan has a great opening pair of Rizwan and Babar who have scored tons of runs for the team which will be a threat for other teams. Babar who is just behind Virat Kohli in cause of runs in T20I has been consistent in his batting. Babar Azam who had resigned earlier from the captaincy team management again decided to bring him up as a captain and so he is leading the team once again. Rizwan will also be a threat to others as he has been consistent in recent matches.
Weaknesses:
Lack of Spinners: Pakistan always relies on their pacers and they fail to choose their spinners so they lack spinning options. Shadab Khan is the only spinner who adds experience to the team. In a country like the USA, you should have additional options for spinners and need to back them as well whereas Pakistan lacks them every time in ICC tournaments.
Inconsistent Middle Order: Pakistan is such a team that relies more on their openers and bowlers so they forget to improve their middle order, if we recall their recent performance feels like they are not prepared properly and their middle order also lacks many times they perform very great or else get flopped. Pakistan needs to see how it can improve its middle order.
Opportunities:
Gearing up for future cricketers: Pakistan has added some young guns to their teams which will get more exposure to ICC events. Being the future of Pakistan Cricket they will get more opportunities to perform at the international level and will learn more things how to be consistent how to tackle the situations, etc.
World Cup Champion coach: Since Pakistan Cricket Board has taken Gary Kristen on board as their white-ball head coach which will help them to shape the team, know the team very well and some tactics which Gary Kristen can help the team will be beneficial and know exactly were they went wrong earlier. Gary Kristen brings a lot of experience so it is a great opportunity for Pakistan to have him in their team as a head coach.
Threats:
Political Threats: Since Pakistan has had no great relationship with the USA after the 9/11 attacks and so the threat over the USA may increase and when India and Pakistan face each other more such incidents may happen after post-match because it is in the USA and can’t take the situation lightly.
Insurgence of Security: Many reports were saying that threat calls have been reported in the West Indies so there will be tight security and will be additional police force assigned during every match to protect team players.
X-Factors:
Pakistan need to be charged up more as they are lacking behind but still skipper Babar Azam will keep his form consistent and will score runs. Rizwan will also keep scoring runs, and Iftikhar Ahmed will also be on the radar and can’t take him lightly. The bowling department will surely lead well as Shaheen Shah Afridi is in good form and connoisseur Mohammed Amir will also shine with his swing and may trouble the batters.
Prediction for ICC T20 World Cup 2024
If Pakistan improves their performance as they will be facing mighty India on June 9 will get to see a certified blockbuster, and they also will Ireland whom they had defeated earlier but can’t take lightly and will be one of the best matches to witness, host the USA and neighboring Canada will also be a tough challenge but can be one of the teams who can qualify for semis if they play well.