Pakistan will not play any ODI matches for the next 12 months. Their next 50-over series is scheduled to be in November 2024, which will start their path to the Champions Trophy 2025 at home. The Men in Green failed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup semifinals.
Despite having some of the top-ranked players in the squad, Pakistan finished fifth in the points table, managing only four wins in nine matches. The defeats against Afghanistan and South Africa hurt the Babar Azam-led outfit a lot as they missed out on the knockout round by a small margin.
Fans had high hopes from Pakistan in the ODI World Cup, but the squad failed to live up to the expectations. As a result, there will likely be some drastic changes in their squad. Here are three players whom fans may not see in the ODI format again.
1. Haris Rauf should not play for Pakistan in ODI format
Haris Rauf was exposed in this World Cup. Playing in Indian conditions, Rauf’s 150 kmph pace proved to be a boost for the batters as they smacked him for lots of runs. Rauf earned unwanted records for the most runs and most sixes conceded by a bowler in a single edition of the World Cup. Hence, he should only focus on T20 format now.
2. Imam-ul-Haq
Pakistan needs to look at the future now. They have two quality openers in Abdullah Shafique and Fakhar Zaman. They should groom youngsters like Saim Ayub for the next ICC event instead of giving chances of Imam-ul-Haq, who scored only 162 runs in six matches of the 2023 World Cup.
3. Mohammad Nawaz
All-rounder Mohammad Nawaz has emerged as a weak point of Pakistan in ICC events. He was the bowler, who led to the team’s defeat against India in T20 World Cup 2022 and South Africa in ODI World Cup 2023. Pakistan can groom a young all-rounder or recall Imad Wasim for the position.
