SWOT Analysis: Here’s a look at how Pakistan team tick their boxes

Pakistan under the leadership of Babar Azam are all set to be in action in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. The men in green arrived in India on September 27; subsequently, they also played their first warm-up game against New Zealand on Friday, September 29 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad.

However, Pakistan showed some brilliant touch in their batting as the skipper Babar Azam and star middle-order batter Saud Shakeel scored crucial half-centuries, alongside an amazing century scored by the wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan. But they didn’t have an expected day with the ball and eventually, lost the match by 5 wickets.

Babar Azam’s men will start their run in the main round of the ODI World Cup 2023 with their first match against the Netherlands on Friday, October 6 in Hyderabad.

With said that, here we’ll have a look at all the important aspects of the 1992 ODI World Cup Champions with a SWOT analysis. Here we’ll also discuss the points that might help Pakistan win their second title after a long wait of 31 years.

Strength – Batting

Babar Azam (Source: Twitter)

It has been very rare for Pakistan to be a quite strong side in batting because their bowling is one of the things to stay in focus during the major international tournaments. But things are quite different this time while heading to the ODI World Cup 2023. The men in green have a bit of a stable and strong batting lineup.

It starts with the options in the opening, including the likes of Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, and the veteran Southpaw Fakhar Zaman. Later, on number three, the skipper and World number 1 batter, Babar Azam is there to provide extra strength to the Pakistan batting.

Furthermore, the middle order consists of the wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan followed by a few options from the star batter Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman and the senior all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed.

Weakness – Absence of Naseem Shah, lacks a quality pacer

Naseem Shah (Source- Twitter)

In another strange development of things, one of the primary strengths of Pakistan seems to become its weakness in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. They were known for their fierce pace attack and mighty bowling lineup but this time the absence of the young pacer Naseem Shah disturbed the equilibrium of the bowling lineup for Pakistan.

Naseem’s absence will also result in the lack of a quality pacer for the men in green. It would be quite hard to count on Mohammad Wasim Jr that he will be doing some wonders as an additional pacer, alongside Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, and Hasan Ali.

Opportunity – Similar Conditions in Subcontinent

India vs Pakistan (Source: Twitter)

As the ODI World Cup 2023 is set to be played entirely in India, the weather conditions and the wickets would be mostly familiar for the Pakistan players. The weather conditions and pitches in India and Pakistan are more or less similar to each other so it will make things easier for Pakistan cricketers to cope with the conditions here in India.

Apart from that, given the fact that India has mostly spin-friendly tracks the Pakistan batters will have an extra advantage in comparison to the players from the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) countries.

Threat – Playing in front of an Indian Crowd

Image Source- Twitter

Having all the positives and negatives, there will also be a threat on the mental level for the Pakistan cricket team. As they will be playing in front of the Indian crowd after a gap of 7 years, it would not be that easy for them to live up to the expectations of the Indian crowd, which always demands a bit more from the teams, who are there in the middle.

This pressure is going to be one of the psychological threats for Babar Azam’s Pakistan in the upcoming 13^th edition of the ODI World Cup.