Seven years ago, Pakistan participated in the first ever t20 world
cup making it right into the finals and nearly won it until that last minute
mistake by Misbah ul haq. Pakistan faced a similar situation in 2009 until
Afridi's match winning performances both with the bat and bowl, took us to
victory and made the entire country proud. But will the history repeat itself
this time? Can Pakistan regain the title this time?
Pakistan play India in the opener of
the t20 world cup 2014, making a group stage game much more important due to
the intense rivalry between the two nations. Both teams have played only 5 t20
matches against each other, out of which India won 3, Pakistan 1, and another
one was a draw. But what gives Pakistan the edge is their recent victory over India
the Asia cup and even the Pakistani captain Muhammad Hafeez said in a recent
press conference that he and his team were feeling positive and were glad to
start the tournament against one of the best teams in the world and he further
said that a victory against India can be a massive morale booster for the team
which can in turn lead to their victory in the tournament.
Another worry for Pakistan is the absence of
their star all-rounder, Shahid Afridi in the practice sessions currently going
on in Bangladesh. Afridi had a back injury in the brilliant chase of 326 by
Pakistan against Bangladesh a few days ago and even played the final of the
asia cup on painkillers, not being fully fit. The captain and the entire team
is hoping Afridi gains back full fitness for the tournament and is expected to
join the team by Monday. Afridi even declared Pakistan as the favorites for
the tournament in a recent interview, saying that Pakistan has a great bowling
and batting combination and only needs to work a little on their fielding.
Apart from
Pakistan, the two other strong contenders for the title are the young Australian
side and the title holders, West Indies. Both the teams have a few number of
match winning players who can change the game at any moment and even the experts
have declared these three teams as the best in the world right now. The
surprising element however is the distribution of teams in the two groups as Pakistan,
Australia and West Indies are all in the same group and that’s why it’s being
called as the group of death.
Pakistan has
played 4 t20 world cups till now, and has managed to reach the semifinals in
all of them. And with the current strong batting and bowling combination, we
can expect Pakistan to regain the title once again after 5 years.
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