ICC World Cup 2023: Captaincy on line, Pakistan locked in do-or-die vs SA

His captaincy on line after a hattrick of defeats Babar Azam will be keen to find some inspiration and that exclusive piece of Pakistani magic when his team squares off against a formidable South Africa in a doordie game of the World Cup here on FridayOne more defeat and knockout doors will be shut on Pakistan and Babar who is already feeling the heat might end up losing captaincy as it will be virtually impossible for his team to salvage the campaign in remaining three games even if it wins thoseAlso Read ICC World Cup 2023 SL vs ENG Mathews strikes earlyLooking ahead the board will make decisions in the best interest of Pakistan cricket based on the teams performances in the World Cup At present the PCB encourages fans former players and stakeholders to rally behind the team as they strive to make a triumphant comeback in the megaevent PCBs statement ahead of an important will only increase tremendous pressure on skipper and the teamFrom here on Pakistan needs to win all its matches and expect Australia to falter in at least two of their remaining four gamesTheres a saying in world cricket that one doesnt know which Pakistan team will turn up on a particular day There could be a geniuses at work one day and on other days they could even embarrass themselves leave alone their legion of fansA gutsy Pakistan team is always necessity for a global tournament like World Cup and Babar would expect that against a rampaging South Africans it would produce a world class performanceThe gulf in performance between two teams has been huge despite Proteas shock defeat against the Netherlands at DharamsalaQuinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen has headlined the batting with timely contributions from others like Aiden Markram while Pakistans archaic batting approach has left them in dire straits at the halfway of the league stageThe difference in approach is evident when one looks at the boundary count of the two sides South African batters have hit 155 fours and 59 sixes while Pakistan managed only 24 sixes in five games and 136 boundariesAn embarrassing statistic is Pakistan batters hitting a six in Powerplay after consumption of 1200 deliveries across games in first six oversWhile De Kock Klaasen Markram David Miller allrounder Marco Jansen have all had a strikerate of over 100 only Saud Shakeel and Iftikhar Ahmed the two middleorder batters have barely crossed the threefigure strikerateIn bowling Shaheen Shah Afridi hasnt been able to bowl his customary nipbackers consistently in opening spell and Haris Raufs effectiveness in 50 over cricket has come under scanner Raufs back of length one dimensional bowling has hurt Pakistan as much as Naseem Shahs absenceHasan Ali isnt good enough for ODIs with distinct lack of penetration and it wont be bad to try out a Zaman Khan or Muhammad Wasim Junior to bring in some varietyHowever the biggest weakness for Pakistan at the Chepauk will be lack of quality spinners It is understandable that playing legspinner Usama Mir in both games has backfired and with an economy rate of over 8 he might not get another gameShadab Khan has been equally ordinary and if one is honest the Pakistan vicecaptain would struggle to make it to any decent Indian firstclass side He is not even in the league of Mayank Markande Rahul Chahar and Suyash Sharma the three IPL regulars who are not even in India contentionHaving a leftarm spinner like Mohammed Nawaz will hardly solve their problem as he is neither a restrictive option nor a wickettaking oneThe South Africans are in a better position compared to the Pakistanis who are in a mustwin situation in every clash hereonA win for the former would put them firmly in contention to qualify for the semifinalsOn the other hand for South Africa everything has been going great for the sideWith the bat opener de Kock has been in flawless form and being the tournaments top rungetter so far proves everythingAs for their bowling their pacers Kagiso Rabada Jansen and Gerald Coetzee have simply ripped apart the batters in the competition so far and the Pakistani batters have a tedious task at their hands to counter them even on the slow Chepauk surfaceKeshav Maharaj has been a calming influence in the middle overs with seven wickets but more importantly economy rate of 460 which showed his control in the most important phase of the game In headtohead record Proteas enjoy a 5130 in 82 clashesSquadsPakistan Babar Azam c Shadab Khan Fakhar Zaman ImamulHaq Abdullah Shafique Mohammad Rizwan wk Saud Shakeel Iftikhar Ahmed Salman Ali Agha Mohammad Nawaz Usama Mir Haris Rauf Hasan Ali Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad WasimSouth Africa Temba Bavuma c Gerald Coetzee Quinton de Kock wk Reeza Hendricks Marco Jansen Heinrich Klaasen wk Andile Phehlukwayo Keshav Maharaj Aiden Markram David Miller Lungi Ngidi Kagiso Rabada Tabraiz Shamsi Rassie van der Dussen and Lizaad WilliamsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or 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