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Sports fans, it’s that time, not my favourite time far from it, but sports fans as painful as it is, it’s time to conduct a post-mortem on what’s becoming a slow death for T20 cricket.

The fact that I am having to look at the topic that is Pakistani cricket in such a a way rings alarm bells in itself. It was just in 2021 that Babar Azam’s men played some very good cricket in the UAE and then fell short against Australia in the semi-finals.

The Baggy Green are Pakistani’s bogey side. Out of the sides that in 2021 and the team two years ago, the signs were not as prevalent as they would be later down the line.

The men in green have been very poor this World Cup, but my challenge is to give a measured assessment as to why. Their bowling is useless isn’t the issue entirely, although Shadab Khan’s bowling form is an issue.

In the old regime of Babar Azam, Shadab was vice-captain, so dropping the Islamabad United skipper was never going to be a starter, but this is a sustained period of not bowling well for Shadab Khan.

Osama Mir has been bowling well and was in good form coming into the tournament. Mir can also bat, which would have been a prized asset in the Pakistani line-up.

Babar, admitted it as much he got it wrong with Shadab as the leg-spinner’s involvement with the ball in the last two games was minimal next to zero. So why pick him?

The main problem with this Pakistan team is that they’re only suited to pace on-the-ball kind of bowling. Bouncers, short-balls and the other variations, this batting unit can’t handle it, the India game is the prime example.

In terms of the bowling, Pakistan rely on Shaheen and if he doesn’t fire, it’s usually a tricky assignment for the men in green to get early wickets. Their fast bowling isn’t bad, although they could do with bowlers who bowl in the high 90s.

Multan Sultan pacer Sameeullah would have been a good bowler, especially with his height too, but unfortunately for Pakistan, he’s been injured. Harris Rauf is good, but he usually needs an over to get going, most of the time that over is very expensive.

Right, let’s get to the crooks of the issue. Batting! I alluded to it just a moment ago, but not only are Pakistan able to deal with high-skilled variations of length and pace, but they only seem suited to when the ball is coming on to bat.

If the bowler takes the pace away and they have to do the work, they struggle. This is why their strike rate is what it is. In that batting line-up, all the batsmen are in the 130 strike-rate range.

Azam Khan who is higher than that (145 for Pakistan), has struggled to hold down a place in the side. There is a flaw in the makeup, the 2009 World Champions start slowly.

Sometimes it’s great, but with Shoaib Malik and Mohammed Hafeez they had players who could recover from the situation, here on the surfaces in the US, they haven’t.

So what do you think of my views? Do you agree that the batsmen haven’t backed the bowlers efforts?

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