ICC World Cup 2019: Who are the biggest game-changers for Pakistan?
The World Cup 2019 starts in England on the 23rd of May, and all the teams who have been preparing for this big event will be put to test there. Every team wishes to lay hands on that illustrious trophy, and this year will be no different.
The 2019 edition of the World Cup will be played without pools, unlike the recent editions. In this setup, every team will go head to head against every other team participating in the tournament.
As of now, the hosts England are firm favorites along with India. However, teams like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand also have a chance of taking the trophy home.
Apart from all these, the most unpredictable team of ICC tourneys, Pakistan, also has an outside chance. This is mainly based on their triumph at the Champions Trophy 2017, which was also held in England.
Every team will have one or two players who have the ability to turn matches around on their own. Who are those players from the Pakistan team?
The 2017 Champions Trophy winners will come into this tournament with hopes of making it two ICC trophies in a row. However, the task would be far from easy for them.
In the last one year, Pakistan have seen several ups and downs. They are a team that always carry the tag of 'unpredictable'.
In the past they have managed to pull off some big upsets when the world did not give them any chance. But they have also lost to rank outsiders when everyone expected them to win.
Pakistan's biggest strength is always believed to be their bowling. They will hope that this bowling, which has been falling apart in the recent times, will come together and play well.
Pakistan will bank on their front line pacer Mohammed Amir to find good touch and run through the opposition batting line-up more often than not. He has 60 wickets in the 49 ODI matches he has played so far.
Hasan Ali is another pacer who has exceptional numbers, with 77 wickets in 44 matches.
Apart from these two bowlers, Pakistan will also be banking on batsmen like Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam, who have the ability to score big. If these players come good for Pakistan, then the team would be expected to make it to the knock-outs 9 times out of 10.