Pakistan T20 World Cup preview: Can Babar Azam's men spring in a surprise?

The return of tried and tested Babar Azam as captain for the T20 World Cup belies the massive changes in Pakistan cricket over the last 18 months.

Since Babar's team lost the T20 World Cup final to England in November 2022, the Pakistan Cricket Board has had four chairmen, the selection panel has been overhauled, and the experiment with Shaheen Shah Afridi as skipper was quickly aborted.

A new head coach for the limited-overs formats joined the squad in England just weeks ahead of the June 1-29 World Cup in the U.S. and Caribbean.

All these off-the-field happenings have impacted Pakistan's preparations for the tournament.

They badly lost the away series to New Zealand, scraped to a drawn 2-2 series at home against the Black Caps and lost a T20 series against Afghanistan 2-1. A shock loss to Ireland in Dublin preceded back-to-back wins and 2-1 series result.

And so unpredictable Pakistan enter another world tournament as a team to watch because of their rich history in the T20 World Cup. They have featured in three finals, won the title in 2009, and also reached the semifinals three other times.

For this year, the Men in Green have fielded a pace-heavy team.

Left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir came out of retirement at 32 to accompany the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Abbas Afridi. Meanwhile, another veteran who returns to the fray is Imad Wasim, the left-arm spinner.

A host of debutants will also take the field at the marquee tournament. Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Saim Ayub and Usman Khan will register their maiden appearance in a T20 World Cup.

But shadows loom over the form of their batters.

Saim Ayub's performance has posed a bit of worry for Babar & Co. Since April 2024, across 8 T20I innings, he has managed only 124 runs and has failed to cross the half-century mark even once. Meanwhile, another youngster Azam Khan has come under the scanner for his dismal performances in T20Is all year long.

In a total of 8 games, Khan has not gone past 30 while also failing to score a total of 100 runs across the innings.

It is crucial for Pakistan to get their top-order to fire once again as they prepare to face arch-rivals India in possibly the most important fixture of Group A.

On June 09, historic foes India and Pakistan will face-off in New York and depending on the rest of their match results, it could be a possible decider for Super 8 as well.

PAKISTAN SQUAD FOR T20 WC:
Babar Azam (c), 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 FIXTURES:
PAK vs USA, 11th Match, June 06 - 9:00 PM IST, Bridgetown
IND vs PAK, 19th Match, June 09 - 8:00 PM IST, New York
PAK vs CAN, 22nd Match, June 11 - 8: 00 PM IST, New York
PAK vs IRE, 36th Match, June 16 - 8:00 PM IST, Lauderhill