Wasim Akram, a legendary cricket player from Pakistan, is certain that his old team have the talent to compete at a high level in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup this year.
Wasim was a member of the great squad that won Pakistan their first and only World Cup in 1992 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The renowned fast believes that Pakistan would be able to win a second trophy later this year provided their finest players are able to stay healthy and in good form.
In One-Day Internationals (ODIs), Babar Azam is the best hitter in the world, and the rest of Pakistan’s players have plenty of experience to back him up.
Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, and Fakhar Zaman will be among the most important batsmen, while Pakistan’s pace attack may rely on Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah to help them out.
Wasim anticipates that the circumstances that teams will encounter in India while competing in the World Cup would also favor his previous side Pakistan, which has all of the components necessary to be among the favorites to win a second World Cup championship this year.
“We have a good side…a very good one-day side and are led by one of the modern-day greats in Babar Azam,” Wasim said to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“As long as they are healthy and as long as they play according to the plan, they will have a chance of doing well in that World Cup because it is played in the same kind of conditions that we play in here in India on the sub-continent,” the coach said. “[T]he conditions are very similar.”
In the most recent iteration of the 50-over World Cup, Pakistan won five of their nine matches, however they were eliminated from contention for a spot in the semi-finals of the competition owing to a lower net run rate than the other teams. This will not happen in 2019.
Their performance since that tournament has been outstanding, as shown by the fact that Babar’s side is presently positioned second on the ODI team rankings despite having lost just nine 50-over matches since that event.
The right-handed Babar has scored eight of his 18 ODI hundreds since the 2019 tournament to retain his stronghold on the top place in the ODI batter rankings. During that great run, Babar has been a model of consistency, and this has allowed him to keep his stranglehold on the top spot.
Wasim is a huge admirer of Babar and believes that the inspired Pakistan captain will take his game to a new level at the World Cup. Wasim does not find it surprising that Babar would do this.
Wasim made the observation that, “I think he can (get better), as he is the best player we have,”
Everything that he does is followed by the whole of the nation. In my view, he has the most beautiful cover drive in the world. This is regardless of whether it is a Twenty20 match, a One-Day Match, or a Test Match. He brings people into the stadium no matter what format of cricket it is.