If anyone had suspected Pakistanis preoccupation with cricket would weaken after two international sides pulls out of their tours, they now stand corrected. If anything, the nation of cricket maniacs has taken to the support with even more abandon.
After a disappointing end to the international calendar for Pakistan, Pakistan Cricket Board decided to shift the first leg of National T20 Cup to Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Domestic and national players took part in the tournament, the last cricket event before the T20 World Cup.
Ramiz Raja, the newly appointed Chairman PCB, said ahead of the event broadcasting for the tournament will be of international level. No doubt he made sure there would be no compromise over it.
The National T20 Cup 2021 began with a low scoring yet entertaining contest between Balochistan and Northern. Right from the beginning, Balochistan were nowhere in the game. They began slowly, then kept losing wickets consis- tently. At one point Balochistan were 70/5, but then Amad Butt and Kashif Bhatti provided some resilience.
Balochistan finished at 139/7 at the end of their 20 overs thanks to a 66 run partnership between Amad Butt and Kashif Bhatti. Every bowler from Northern was good, but the pick of the bowlers were Haris Rauf and Mohammad Nawaz who grabbed 2 wickets each and remained economical as well.
Northern had no trouble whatsoever in the run chase. They did lose Umar Amin early, but it proved beneficial for them as Haider Ali did something unexpected. After a terrible CPL, Haider Ali stunned everyone with a 28 ball half century.
Asif Ali was the second batter to set off some fireworks apart from Haider, who smashed 43 off just 20 balls. The game ended with Northern winning by 6 wickets and 3 overs to spare.
As usual there were questions regarding the selection of T20 World Cup team. Ever since the team was announced, Pakistan Cricket Board and chief selector Muhammad Wasim seemed under immense pressure. They had time to change the team till 8 October to give the final name to the ICC.
The Pakistan squad for the World T20 2021 has been revised by the PCB based on the players’ performance in the national T20 Cup. It was announced that the squad would go in quarantine at Lahore from 8 October 2021, so any changes in the squad had to be done before 8 October. The team is set to depart for UAE on 15 October.
Opening batter Fakhar Zaman has replaced Khushdil Shah in the squad. Although generally, Fakhar’s role is to open the innings but we’ve seen recently that Pakistan used him in the
middle order in T20Is. Khushdil Shah’s form was question-able in the National T20 Cup. He did show some spark in the PSL 2021, but he struggled afterwards.
Khushdil is said to be one dimensional player, as he looks terrible while playing deliveries outside the off stump. On the other hand, Fakhar Zaman’s experience and match winning performances have given him an edge over Khushdil Shah.
Fakhar was earlier in the travelling reserves of Pakistan squad for the World T20 2021, but now he has been named in the final 15.
Former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed has been rewarded for his brilliant performances in the National T20 Cup 2021. He was also in good rhythm during Pakistan Super League.
Azam Khan on the other hand was out of shape and out of form. His fitness has been questionable. He got run out a couple of times in the National T20 Cup 2021 and on the whole failed to deliver any notable performance in the tournament.
Even behind the stumps, Azam missed a few chances. Hence the experienced wicketkeeper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed was chosen ahead of Azam. Sarfaraz would be the backup wicket keeper choice of Pakistan for the World T20 2021 now.
Muhammad Hasnain was named in the 15-member squad but his performances in the national T20 were below average. Haidar Ali, the in-form batter, replaced him after his brilliant performances in the tournament – although he failed miserably in the CPL.
Shoaib Malik, who had earlier been left out, is set to make a comeback for the tour. Sohaib Maqsood who was picked over Malik has unfortunately been ruled out due to back injury. On 9 October, it was announced Shoaib Malik has been picked.
After these changes in the squad the team is looking much stronger than before and according to experts this team is a good fighting unit that has the potential to surprise the opposition.
