All-rounders are a gamble. Unless your team gets fortunate enough to get their hands on someone like Gary Sobers. Especially, in the shortest format, with most all-rounders playing currently you are never sure how they would contribute in which outing. But it’s safe to say that they are worth taking the risk. They say and have been saying for ages that batsmen win you matches while bowlers win you tournaments, but often left out is the fact that it’s all-rounders who set the stage for both. As Pakistan nears the mega-event they have turned the world upside down for, there remains one box that needs to be checked. It’s ensuring the presence of an all-rounder who can do both jobs without faltering. In easier words, Pakistan’s all-rounders must chip in with a splash of impact in both departments if the team wishes to take the World Cup home.
The impact of an all-rounder:
No one would fancy forgetting how the men in green capsized their World Cup campaign in the last edition. More or less, the orchestrator of that backflip was none other than Shadab Khan who, by numbers, happens to be the best of Pakistan’s all-rounders in T20Is. Now, whatever his performance currently is, the previous statement proves our claim. And so does the fact that Sikander Raza did nearly the same for Zimbabwe in the same edition. And Wanindu Hasaranga for Sri Lanka in the 2021 T20 World Cup. The list is inexhaustible and certainly, is enough to prove that all-rounders are a gift from God. This impact becomes more significant as the formats become shorter. Primarily because you don’t need all-rounders who are almost as good as their specialist counterparts to fire in white-ball formats.
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Who is Pakistan’s X-factor?
As it so happens, Pakistan is not raking in all-round options. By the conventional definition, there are only two of the sort in the team; Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim. Though it makes decision-making easier for Babar, a little problem persists. Shadab Khan is light years away from his trademark best and Imad Wasim has recently come out of retirement.
Shadab Khan, as said earlier, is far from the standard he himself has set. The recent outing against England and Ireland proved it further. 55 or 54 runs off 24 balls look only good when scored, not conceded. In his last 10 outings, he has averaged something north of 60 with the ball. It was ugly from him. Naturally, it followed calls to issue him a restraining order from cricket and deport him from the country with immediate effect. But for better or for worse, that can not be done at the helm of the mega event. Fans high on recency bias would miss this out and as repulsive as it may be, Shadab is a player who brings impact to the table. Even during this ominous phase, selectors would think (though I doubt Pakistan selectors do that) several times before dropping him.
While Shadab needs to get it exactly right in the tourney, in case his bad form continues, all eyes, hope and the onus will fall on Imad Wasim. On some of the Carribean pitches, a slow left arm always comes in handy. Imad would fancy this chance. Making an impact with the bat is all he needs to do—something he is generally considered better at.
What happens if none of Pakistan’s all-rounders get the job done?
Pakistan would simply be vulnerable. We have mentioned all-rounders are a gamble because banking on even the tiniest amount of hope that they will do good seems more sane than counting them out of the equation altogether. To put it in other words, Pakistan would exactly be like they were before that fateful Netherlands match in the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup; awful and toothless.
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