Pakistan suffered an embarrassing exit from Asia Cup 2023 after losing against India and Sri Lanka in the Super Fours round. The Men in Green entered the continental championship as the number one ranked team in the ICC ODI Rankings. However, they only managed to defeat Nepal and Bangladesh in the tournament.
Since Pakistan were the official hosts of Asia Cup 2023, fans had high expectations from them, but they could not defeat India and Sri Lanka. India crushed the Pakistan side by 228 runs, whereas the match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was a nail-biting thriller, where the island nation defeated the Men in Green by one wicket on the last ball.
The Men in Green will have to make some changes to perform better in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 tournament which will take place in India later this year. Here’s a look at the three changes that Pakistan should make.
1. Pakistan should not announce playing 11 in advance like they did in Asia Cup 2023
Pakistan surprisingly announced their playing XI one day before the match for all games of the tournament. This thing allowed the opposition to plan exactly for the team that Pakistan would field that too with a lot of hours in hand. They could make any changes they wished for the match-ups. Also, Pakistan put themselves under unnecessary pressure as last-minute changes would look embarrassing.
2. Pakistan should drop Fakhar Zaman
Fakhar Zaman’s disappointing form continued in Asia Cup 2023. It has been a long time since the left-handed opener scored big for Pakistan. The team management should prefer Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq as the first-choice opening pair.
3. Rotate their trio of fast bowlers
Pakistan should play two out of their three ace fast bowlers in a majority of the matches. Only in the main matches, they should keep Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi in the playing XI. Otherwise, if two bowlers get injured at same time like it happened in Asia Cup 2023, Pakistan will have to field an inexperienced player.
Perhaps, they can groom someone like Zaman Khan in the team with Shaheen, Rauf or Naseem being the other two pacers.
