Pakistan at Cricket World Cup Player by Player Analysis: Pakistan has announced its 15-man World Cup squad.
Misbah-ul-Haq will be serving as the leader of the team while legendary
Shahid Afridi will be his vice-captain. There were numerous
speculations on who should be in and who should be out? The biggest
problem was the position of no. 6 and the inclusion of an all-rounder
who could fight alongside Shahid Afridi. Misbah-ul-Haq
will be serving as the leader of the team while legendary Shahid Afridi
will be his vice-captain. (Photo Source : ZeeNews.India).
Many names were in circulation which included former Pakistan Captain
Shoaib Malik and the newbie Anwar Ali and Bilawal Bhatti. Asad Shafiq
was also in contention after performing so well in the on-going
Pentangular Cup. Veteran Kamran Akmal was thought to make a comeback but
none of the mentioned made it to the final 15.
Fans of a specific country are very vigorous about their team’s
chances in mega-events. A team’s prospect to win rests in its player’s
individual performances. Like drop by drop makes a pool, player by
player makes a collective team effort. We have combined the meticulous
data of Pakistan’s representation at the World Cup. The stats include
each player’s contribution in Australia and New Zealand as well as in
previous world cups. Most experienced in Australia/New Zealand: Shahid Afridi – 41 matches Most experienced in World Cups: Shahid Afridi – 20 matches
Players
Performance in AUS/NZ
Performance in WCs
Matches
Runs
Wickets
Matches
Runs
Wickets
Misbah-ul-Haq
5
203
-
8
248
-
Ahmed Shehzad
5
188
-
5
44
-
Mohammad Hafeez
12
241
8
10
230
11
Younis Khan
15
262
-
16
306
0
Haris Sohail
First Experience
First Experience
Sohaib Maqsood
First Experience
First Experience
Shahid Afridi
41
891
45
20
209
28
Umar Akmal
11
281
-
7
240
-
Sarfraz Ahmed
1
6
-
First Experience
Ehsan Adil
First Experience
First Experience
Yasir Shah
First Experience
First Experience
Wahab Riaz
4
3
8
5
8
8
Mohammad Irfan
First Experience
First Experience
Junaid Khan
First Experience
First Experience
Sohail Khan
First Experience
First Experience
As many as 8 players will be making their World Cup Debut this year while Shahid Afridi will be playing his 5th World Cup. Younis Khan will be playing his forth World Cup and Mohammad Hafeez will be playing his 3rd WC. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal will be playing their 2nd World Cup.
The personality of Pakistan's batting line-up is a gripping study and
the chapter that was added in Sharjah could well be a blueprint of how
to build an ODI innings. The primary ingredient was a firm century from Ahmed Shehzad and it was supplemented by a stroke-filled fifty from stand-in captain Shahid Afridi as Pakistan rocketed to 364 for 7 - their third-highest total in 50-over cricket and the highest in Sharjah in 218 matches. New Zealand slipped and slid and finally succumbed for 217, beaten with almost 12 overs left.
Pakistan's batsmen were intent on warding off those loose shots that
frustrate them and their fans so badly. There was a determined effort to
collect singles, which hindered the bowlers' chances of building
pressure. Each of the first three partnerships added more than 50 runs
to the score with Shehzad being the common denominator. But whatever
Pakistan do, there just has to be a see-sawing of fortunes.
Birthday boy Matt Henry took out Shehzad for 113 and Asad Shafiq the
very next ball with the score on 210 in the 38th over, but Pakistan
managed to circumvent those setbacks thanks to an enterprising
partnership between Afridi and Haris Sohail. They added 89 runs in 46
balls and on that steam Pakistan made 125 runs in the last 10 overs.
The only period of play when New Zealand managed to threaten the target
was when Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson were together. Both batsmen
seemed highly conscious of not letting scoreboard pressure dictate their
strokeplay and they trusted their strength - Taylor his power and
Williamson his footwork - to collect their runs. But the end of their
union was rather symbolic of how things had been for New Zealand all
day.
Taylor, who had showed immense skill cutting from the stumps, was bowled
while attempted to do so by an Afridi slider. Tom Latham, too, added
to the imagery when his beloved slog sweep found deep square leg to gift
Shehzad his first ODI wicket. Pakistan gambled with Sohail's part-time
left-arm spin and got three wickets, including Williamson.
No batsman could reach fifty. No partnership could reach fifty. New
Zealand had been run over by a stampede in the first innings and just
could not recover. Afridi could not hide his smile as it became apparent
that victory was only a matter of time. He barely put a foot wrong,
right from the toss which he won and watched his batsmen take full
advantage.
Having been ruffled by pace previously in the series, Pakistan's
strategy was to take on the short ball and an easy-paced pitched helped
their endeavor. They also did not need to deal with Adam Milne, the
fastest of New Zealand's bowlers and also one of the more injury-prone,
rested. Every batsman was keen to pull and Shehzad managed to find the
middle of the bat even off the front foot. Midwicket was his most
productive area and the pull, his most productive shot.
Shehzad's poise at the crease was striking, so much that at times he was
able to hit a selection of his 14 boundaries without much footwork. The
four he drilled through point to reach his fifty was set up by shifting
his weight onto a rather stationary back foot. He showed off his
balance when he ran down the pitch as well, and on one such occasion he
heaved a length ball clean out of the stadium in the 20th over. Nathan
McCullum, who was brought in place of Daniel Vettori, could only watch.
His constant search for singles - he found 41 of them - facilitated a
strike rate just under a-run-a-ball. At times, he wanted a single where
there wasn't one and did have a couple of run-out scares. On other
occasions he would question his partner when they refused. It almost
seemed like he would not accept anything less than a century, judging by
how he stole two runs to a dab that barely went past the 30-yard circle
at midwicket to move to 99. There are only three Pakistan openers -
Saeed Anwar, Salman Butt and Rameez Raja - who have more hundreds than
Shehzad's six.
A 63-run opening stand in 47 balls between Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez
had laid the foundation and Afridi fancied himself. Pakistan had listed
him down at No. 8 at the toss, but he strode out at No. 5 ahead of the
returning Umar Akmal and the red-hot Sarfraz Ahmed. Twenty-five balls of
calculated carnage followed. Mis-timed belts sailed over midwicket and
square leg, slices pinged to the point and cover boundaries and the
straight hits were typically emphatic. By the time he skewed a catch to
mid-off, he had made 55 weighty runs to keep a sensational trend alive -
he had made 124 of 385 and 102 of 371 in the only two higher totals that Pakistan have made in ODIs.
New Zealand wilted so badly that only one bowler - McCullum - went at
under six an over, their over-rate slumped owing to 19 extras and the
ball constantly disappearing to the boundary. Their preoccupation with
the ticking clock coincided with Sarfraz and Sohail Tanvir caning 22
runs off the final over bowled by Corey Anderson to put the cherry on
top.
Cricket’s world cup
tournament is all set to begin within next 65 days in Australia and New
Zealand. This World Cup is said to be of great significance for the
Pakistani cricket team as it will be played on the same ground where
under the captaincy of Imran Khan, Pakistan lifted its first and only
World Cup trophy.
In
honor of this occasion, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to
bring back the same jersey used in the 1992 World Cup worn by the
Green-Shirts 22 years ago.
According
to media reports, The ICC has announced that the Replica Playing Shirt
has been designed to commemorate the 1992 ICC Cricket World Cup which
was hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The shirt replicates the jersey
worn by the Pakistan players during the 1992 World Cup.
Pakistan
team coach Waqar Younis has high hopes for the 2015 World Cup, saying
the green-shirts have all it needs to win the World Cup 2015.
