Pakistan -New Zealand Series Preview 2023

Pakistan's home series against New Zealand will be closely contested one with New Zealand going in to this series as slight favourites over a struggling Pakistani side. I am saying this because Pakistan recently lost an Afghanistan Twenty20 series in Sharjah and their morale will be down whereas New Zealand are coming fresh from their series win in all three formats against Sri Lanka so New Zealand's confidence will be sky high.

Having said that New Zealand will dearly miss the services of their star batsman Kane Williamson who is missing the tour due to injury. Whereas Pakistan are going at full strength with five key players Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf returning to their squad.

Pakistan might lose the twenty20 series against New Zealand as the boys arent in form as can be seen in the Afghanistan series but they will give a tough fight to New Zealand in the ODI series. I am saying this because we have quite a brilliant ODI side,

Pakistan - Afghanistan Twenty20 Series Review 2023

 Afghanistan upset Pakistan 2-1 in the Twenty20 Series which was held in Sharjah. Pakistan were playing with a second string squad with five key team members missing and its no wonder that Afghanistan managed to beat Pakistan easily.

The five key members include Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Fakhar Zaman. Pakistan clearly missed the experience and quality of these five players.

International cricket is no joke and every international series should be taken seriously by PCB. 

On the other hand we did found talented and promising players like Ihsanullah and Saim Ayub in this series. 

In the end what I will like to say is that Pakistan's morale will be down after losing an international series and Pakistani selectors should have selected the best possible team for the Afghanistan International Twenty Series held in Sharjah. 

Pakistan cricket team's chances in 2023 World Cup in India

 Pakistan cricket team's chances in ODI World Cup to be held in India are bright. I am saying this because conditions in India suit Pakistan cricket team and they will find batting easy in India.

They have world class batsmen like Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman and Muhammad Rizwan in their team. Babar Azam is in the form of his life and can win matches single handedly for Pakistan. There isnt a cleaner striker of the ball than Fakhar Zaman. Muhammad Rizwan is the most dependable and consistent batsman and he is in the form of his life too.

We have some of the fastest bowlers in the world in the form of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf. Both Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf can bowl at speeds of 150 kilometres per hour. We have spinners who can turn the ball hugely and have variations like Shahdab Khan and Usama Mir.

Overall I must say we have a good all round team and I predict Pakistan to be In Sha Allah one of the           Semi Finalists alongwith India, Australia and England.

Pakistan cricket team in the Year 2022

 

Pakistan cricket team had a mixed year in 2022 with success in white ball cricket and failure in test cricket.

In test  cricket we were defeated by Australia 1-0 in March and by England 3-0 whitewash in December. We just managed to win one test match against Sri Lanka in Galle and that to thanks to Abdullah Shafique century. In test cricket our bowling lacked ability and experience which often left the batters chasing 300 runs plus target in their second innings whch they often failed to chase.

In white ball  cricket Pakistan had a stellar year defeating Australia in ODI series 2-1 and reaching the finals of Asia Cup and World Cup Twenty20 in Twenty20 cricket. The superb form of Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan in batting led to Pakistan doing so well in Twenty20 and ODI cricket in the year 2022.

In the end I would like to say that had we selected experienced and deserving cricket players in test cricket especially in bowling then we would have done much better in test cricket in 2022. In twenty20 cricket had luck favoured us we would have won the title in Asia Cup and perhaps so even the World Cup 2022 held in Australia.                                                           

Babar Azam

 

Babar Azam is not only the leading Pakistani batsman but a brilliant captain as well. He is the most successful captain in Pakistani history of cricket with a positive winning percentage of more than fifty percent in all formats of the game. He has more wins than losses in all formats of the game as a captain.

     In test cricket he has led Pakistan to 8 wins and 6 losses which is a pretty decent  record as captain. Those 8 wins include a clean sweep against South Africa at home 2-0 which was Pakistan  first test series win against South Africa  in 18 years.        

As twenty20 captain he has led Pakistan to the finals of Asia Cup and World Cup Twenty20 cricket 2022 last year. He also led Pakistan to the Semi Finals of 2021 Twenty20 World Cup.So that's pretty decent going as a captain.

In ODI cricket he led Pakistan to an ODI series win against Australia which is pretty rare as we rarely win against Australia these days.

In the end I would like to say that Babar Azam has performed pretty well  as a captain and as a player. He didnt let captaincy effect his performance as a player.  I think he should continue to play as a captain.

New Zealand's tour of Pakistan 2022-2023

 

New Zealand despite dominating Pakistan in the first test match drew the first test match with Pakistan. Pakistani bowling really looked inadequate, toothless, unskillful and without any experience and ability. This can be judged by the fact that New Zealand easily scored in excess of 600 runs total in their first innings and even a tailender like Ish Sodhi scored a half century.

I think in the test series Pakistan stand no chance against New Zealand and NewZealand might beat Pakistan 1-0 in the test series. I am saying  this because Pakistan dont have the bowling to get twenty wickets against NewZealand.

In the end I would like to say Pakistan will atleast win one  match against NewZealand hopefully in the ODI series and hopefully the ODI series will be much closer as Pakistan is a good ODI side.

England s test tour of Pakistan

 

England have begun their tour of Pakistan on a fantastic note by winning the Rawalpindi test by 74 runs margin .England's win was even more remarkable as they scored at a rate of more than six runs an over in both their innings and their bowlers did a fantastic  job to bowl Pakistan out twice on a flat pitch.

Pakistan didn't get their bowling attack right as they played with inexperienced bowlers. Pakistan handed out debuts to three bowlers namely Haris Rauf, Zahid Mahmood and Mohammad Ali.  No wonder England piled up mammoth total of 657 runs in their first innings.

In the end I  would like to say that England  has a modern approach to test cricket as they score with a run rate of 6 runs an over and their strike rates is much above Pakistani batsmen who play old fashioned cricket. If Pakistani curators prepare huge turning tracks then I hope Pakistan is able to make a comeback in Multan and Karachi test matches.