T20 World Cup 2024: What went wrong with Pakistan in their T20 WC campaign - Cricket Winner

Pakistan has been one of those top-tier cricketing teams which have scalped wins in a few major ICC tournaments and symbolised their calibre in displaying class cricketing action. With years passing by and producing veterans and emerging players, the team has seen a downfall of a scenario in the recent days of the sport. With their last top performance in the previous edition of T20 WC, they were the runners-up against a robust English arsenal.

But, in the ongoing 2024 T20 World Cup, they have been knocked out from the group stage and couldn’t seal a final spot in the Super-8 out of 20 teams. With many factors behind their loss run to ponder, here are the significant pointers on what went wrong with the 2009 T20 WC champion’s campaign in the ongoing edition.

1. Bleak batting kickstart with no opener’s support

Pakistan didn’t have a memorable time with the bat, as the whole batting unit turned out to be a failure, where the opening pairs play a pivotal role in creating a partnership, which helps create an attacking approach to their batting game plan.

With their usual pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam performing below the mark in the initial matchups, they experimented with emerging left-hander Saim Ayub, who needed to improve. Overall, an uncertain opening pair led to a non-attacking batting foundation for the Pakistan side in this tournament.

2. Lack of depth in the middle-order batting

Considering it as a continuation to the first pointer, the batting department of the Pakistan team in this tournament could be touted as miserable. Even when the openers don’t perform, it’s the responsibility of the middle-order batters to take on the game further and end up scoring big.

Though most of their matches were chase and 2nd innings-based, the team wasn’t appealing with the bat and had to struggle a lot in making a batting combi, which helped in being the game-changers of the match.

Also Read: Babar Azam reflects on Pakistan’s underperformance in World Cup campaign

3. Coaching and player’s adaptability dilemma

The Pakistan Cricket Board hasn’t had a favourable time regarding their coaching and management prospects. One such instance would be the inculcation of the World Cup-winning coach, Gary Kirsten. He immediately started his coaching commitments after his horrendous stint as the mentor for the Gujarat Titans in the 2024 IPL.

After being announced as the Head Coach of Pakistan in an uncertain board scenario, the team had their first-ever coach and player interaction through a video call. One of the elements behind Pakistan’s unsuccessful campaign would be the players needing to get more accustomed to their new coaches’ strategies and game plans, which affected their displaying of their X-factor game.