Since the first round of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is completed after some epic games of all 20 teams participating in this tournament, Real-Time Brief is here with the analysis of team Pakistan’s performance. As we know the Pakistan team played exceptionally well in the last couple of T20 World Cups, but they were horrible in this tournament, let’s have a look at their match-by-match performance with some positives and negatives as Real Time Brief encourages constructive criticism!

• USA vs Pakistan – USA outclasses Pakistan

Pakistan played their first group match with the newly emerged team of the USA. Pakistan batted first and their batters were struggling from the very first part of the game, Shadab’s quick 40 of 25 balls helped Pakistan to get the fighting total of 159 with the loss of 7 wickets. USA’s left-arm pacer Saurabh Netravalkar bowled the economical spell by just giving 18 runs off his 4 overs quota and scalped two important wickets.

USA’s batters looked confident and more experienced than most of Pakistan’s batters. Both the openers played comfortably, and Captain Monank Patel scored a brilliant half-century to take his team close to the target. Pakistan’s Bowling lineup, known as the most dangerous bowling attack looked helpless in front of the USA’s batters. But, on the 19th over of the game, Muhammad Amir’s experience and pinpoint Yorkers helped Pakistan to stop the dangerous Aaron Jones from hitting any boundary, and as a result USA needed 15 runs in the last over. Haris Rauf almost took Pakistan to the finishing line but eventually bowled the full toss to Aaron Jones who was waiting for the opportunity and hit the 6 and later the game was tied.

To get the result of the game, we saw the first super over of the tournament in which Muhammad Amir’s shaky line and length with the combination of sloppy fielding helped USA to score 18 runs which seems to be a winning total in Super Over contests. As a result, Pakistan only managed to score 13 runs and lost their first group match to the associate team of the USA. This match is one of the biggest upsets in the history of Pakistan’s Cricket World Cup campaigns over the years.

• Pakistan vs India – One of the best chances Pakistan had!

The greatest rivals in Cricket, Pakistan and India faced each other on the tricky surface of New York. Pakistan won the important toss and elected to bowl first. Fans saw the epic clash between the best bowling lineup in the world and the greatest batting lineup in the world. Pakistan’s bowlers somehow won this battle to restrict India to a total of only 119 runs.

That was the easiest question for Pakistan but “The unpredictable team” showed their intense talent from the comfortable position and collapsed. They needed 49 runs of 49 balls with 8 wickets in hand but who knew that Jasprit Bumrah’s stormy spell would tear apart Pakistan’s batting? Pakistan started to lose back-to-back wickets and eventually managed to lose the easiest game they ever had. It was a bit tricky surface, but professional teams should know how to tackle any situation and sadly Pakistan’s batting lineup lacks the professionalism to tackle the pressure in big games. Pakistan just needed one or two decent overs to chase that total comfortably, but the batters denied taking any risk hence pressure came back to them.

• Pakistan vs Canada – Same defensive approach

New York’s tricky conditions saw the game between Pakistan and Canada. Pakistan’s bowlers again restricted Canada’s batters to a total of 106. The hopes for Pakistan were still alive at that moment to qualify for the Super Eight stage as the USA needed another win to qualify for the second round of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Pakistan’s batters again followed the same defensive approach and decided to take the chase deep. Canada unfortunately doesn’t have Bumrah to shake Pakistan’s batters hence Pakistan slowly and steadily chased down 107 runs with 15 balls left. The defensive approach by Pakistan’s team in this tournament was heavily criticized by Cricket analysts and legends.

• Pakistan vs Ireland – Just a formal Game

The washout between the USA vs Ireland game shattered the hopes for the Pakistan team as the USA’s 5 points took them to the later stage of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. Since Pakistan got eliminated therefore the game between Pakistan and Ireland became just a formal game to end the journey for both teams.

Pakistan’s bowling again looked impressive, and Ireland only managed to score 106. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Muhammad Amir looked unplayable with the new bowl and Imad Wasim also bowled incredibly well. Pakistan started the chase well but again they lost 4 quick wickets. Fortunately, Babar Azam took responsibility and tried to rotate the strike as Pakistan was already 61 for the loss of 6 wickets.

Abbas Afridi also lost the wicket, when Player of the Match Shaheen Shah Afridi came to the crease and played aggressively. Shaheen’s couple of maximums took Pakistan over the line and saved them from another humiliation in the tournament.

• Conclusion

From last year's ODI World Cup, Pakistan’s bowling was below average. But, in this tournament, they again looked impressive after the defeat against the USA. Indeed, the pitches were helpful for bowling, but it will be helpful to boost their confidence. The main concern was Pakistan’s batting approach, their defensive and sloppy batting almost took their team down in every match of this tournament. The middle order was just formally presented in the team, Usman Khan, Iftekhar Ahmed, and Azam Khan did not help Pakistan in any match of this tournament. Iftekhar Ahmed and Azam Khan are the biggest question mark in the team as they have the responsibility to finish the match, but neither was able to middle the bowl. Even Naseem Shah looked a better Batsman than most of the other Pakistan players.

One of the best coaches Gary Kirsten the Head Coach of Pakistan’s White ball team, pointed out the lack of unity, skills, and fitness in the team. Pakistan’s fans are totally broken by their team’s performance, and they are praying for the betterment of Pakistan Cricket. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should now sit and look at the weak points of Pakistan, we hope that we’ll see some positive performances from team Pakistan.

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