World Cup 2023: What has gone wrong for Pakistan in marquee tournament?

Skipper Babar Azam's form is a concern for the Pakistan team management. The form of their spinners is also worrisome even as the Men in Green prepare to take on Afghanistan in their next league game of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup.

Hyderabad: Pakistan had to face their second defeat in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup as captain and star batter Babar Azam and pacer Haris Rauf again failed to perform well against Australia at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.

Babar Azam, the captain of the Pakistan team is yet to fire in this World Cup as he hasn't played up to the expectation. He has scored only 83 runs in four innings of the World Cup 2023 with an average of 20.75. His highest score was 50 which came against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

In the first two matches of the World Cup, Babar Azam managed to score only 15 runs. He also misfired in an important match against Australia and scored only 18 runs before getting out. This poor performance led to Pakistan's defeat against five-time champions Australia and their subsequent drop from the knockout spots to fifth place in the World Cup points table.

The Pakistan speedster Haris Rauf, who is known for his sheer pace also failed to impress and didn't perform as per the benchmark he has set. After Naseem Shah missed out on the World Cup, Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi had a responsibility to lead the attack but both failed and gave a lot of runs. He has picked eight wickets in four matches but leaked the runs at an economy of 7.06.

One of the major issues for Pakistan is the poor performance of spinners - Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan. Nawaz has picked only two wickets with an average of 91.5 at an economy of 5.80 in the four games while leg-spinner Shadab Khan bowled only 20 overs and has picked three wickets at 65.50 at an economy of 6.5 in the last three games of the ongoing World Cup.

Notably, Pakistan's bowling is yet to click collectively in the World Cup 2023. They can't afford another loss in the World Cup otherwise they'll have to depend on the results of other teams to qualify for the semi-finals. Pakistan cricket team is now currently in fifth position in the points table with two wins in four matches. They'll have to improve their net run rate going into the second half of the tournament.