In 1992, the team that won the World Cup had an exceptional blend of talented young players and a few men with loads of experience of international cricket. Among the seasoned players were Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, Rameez Raja, Wasim Akram and Ijaz Ahmed. It had quite a few youngsters who went on to become stars, including Inzamamul Haq, Moin Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aqib Javed and Aamer Sohail.
Let’s see how the players most likely to be picked for the World Cup 2015 compare with that team. In place of Imran, Miandad, Wasim, Saleem and Rameez, we have Shahid Afridi, Misbahul Haq, Umar Gul, and Younis Khan. Then we have players who have been in international cricket for past several years and have significant experience: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal and Junaid Khan.
There were two players in the 1992 squad who made their debut in the World Cup itself — Iqbal Sikandar and Wasim Haider, though they never played again. The players with very little experience in Pakistan’s likely squad are Zulfiqar Babar, Haris Sohail, Raza Hasan and Bilawal Bhatti.
So can we expect the Pakistani players to bring home another World Cup? No, it’s highly unlikely. In ODIs, Younis is not as good as Miandad was though Shahid Afridi can play the role that was played by Imran Khan — that of an experienced all-rounder.
Unfortunately, there is none like Wasim Akram in the current squad. We must remember that he was the man of the final and highest wicket taker in that event. Umar Gul has been in international cricket for more than 10 years, but he lacks the extraordinary skills that Wasim had.
Also, there is no established opening pair as we had in Rameez Raja and Aamer Sohail. These two players had played important roles in pushing the team into the semi-final.
Experience wise, we can compare Muhammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz to Aqib Javed, but Wahab and Sohail Tanvir have been very inconsistent and so unreliable.
In the light of these facts, it seems unlikely that Pakistan will be able to reach the final. They may reach the quarter-finals and even the semi-finals, but reaching the final will require beating teams like Australia, South Africa, and India and all these three teams are super fit and sanguine and have players who are best suited for the ODI format.
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