A Look At Pakistan's Form, Talking Points, Key Players Ahead Of T20 World Cup

The Pakistan cricket team has a lot to introspect on and think about as they gear up for their ICC T20 World Cup campaign opener against USA on June 6 and the highly-anticipated clash against arch-rivals India in New York on June 9. The ICC T20 World Cup is taking place from June 1 to 29 in the West Indies and the USA, with the team placed in Group A along with India, USA, Canada and Ireland. Since their loss to England in the final of the ICC T20 WC back in 2022 in Australia, Pakistan has played six bilateral T20I series, winning just one, drawing two and losing three.

Let us look at Pakistan's form, talking points heading into the tournament and some of their key performers since that painful loss to England at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Afghanistan vs Pakistan in UAE (March 2023)

In this series, Pakistan attempted to build a new core ahead of the 2024 T20 WC, under the leadership of Shadab Khan, introducing players like Saim Ayub, Mohammed Haris, Azam Khan, Zaman Khan etc. However, with a 2-1 series loss, the move backfired horribly as Pakistan missed the experience of Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, who did not play in the series. Afghanistan did a fine job chasing a paltry 93 runs and 131 runs in the first two games. In the final game, Pakistan batting delivered the goods, scoring 182/7 in their 20 overs and Shadab Khan, and Ihsanullah got three wickets to bundle out the Afghans for 116 runs.

New Zealand in Pakistan (April 2023):

This series did not have several names that are in the T20 WC squad, like Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee etc and was led by Tom Latham. The series ended in a 2-2 draw. Kiwi batting fell flat in the first two matches, once