DOHA: Pakistan were overwhelmed by England 2-0 in the T20 series ahead of the start of T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA.
The defeat meant that Babar Azam and his band of boys need to reassess their strength as they could face a rocky road in their quest for a first Twenty20 World Cup title since their sole triumph in 2009.
Pakistan are in Group A of the World Cup and begin their campaign against the US on June 6. They will then take on arch-rivals India in one of the event’s highly-anticipated matches three days later.
The team has potential but something that’s missing from the squad is confidence. The lack of confidence in the Pakistani squad was evident during last year’s 50-over World Cup in India, where they failed to qualify for the tournament’s knockout stages after losing five of their nine games.
The performance led to Babar Azam stepping down as captain in all formats and the Pakistan Cricket Board decided to bring in radical overhaul in recent months.
Pacer Shaheen Afridi was put in charge of the T20 squad but Pakistan were thrashed 4-1 in New Zealand in January. The PCB hurriedly reinstated Babar as the captain of the white-ball team. The decision bore success as he led the team to a nervy 2-2 home draw against the same opponents.
Pakistan clinched a 2-1 series victory in Dublin before losing the second game of their rain-hit four-match series against T20 champions England where new coach Gary Kirsten took charge for the first time.
Kirsten was another of the notable changes to the Pakistan setup that included the appointments of Simon Helmot and David Reid as fielding coach and mental performance coach.
The task of the South African will be to streamline training after an ill-fated boot camp in a military academy in March and April preceded a worrying string of injuries, with players such as Azam Khan, Mohammad Rizwan and Irfan Niazi all sidelined.
Pakistan belatedly named their 15-member squad for the tournament and included pacer Haris Rauf, who has recovered from a shoulder injury that had kept him out since February.
Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Saim Ayub and Usman Khan were all picked to play their maiden T20 World Cup in an otherwise experienced squad.
Now, all eyes will be on Kirsten, who famously guided India to their second ICC World Cup 50 overs title in 2011.
