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Are Pakistan now favourites for the World Cup?

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Nikhil_cric

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Not by much but it looks like Mickey and co. are giving chances to deserving youngsters and the team seems to be going from strength to strength. Let's look at the competition. We can disregard minnows or border line minnows like SL/WI/BD/AFG

SA - AB and Morne retired. Tahir in decline. Also known to choke.

ENG - Flashy batting lineup but vulnerable against quality bowling and on
slow pitches. Also bowling is extremely weak

AUS - No Smith or Warner. Batting is extremely weak and bowlers are
constantly injured

NZ - A very balanced team and probably one that can challenge PAK but i
don't think they have the bottle to go all the way. However, they
are dark horses.

IND - Batting heavily dependent on top 3 but then too in high pressure
chasing, only Kohli is proven. Rahul yet to establish himself, #5 and
#6 are duds and has beens. Pandya is a good hitter and a decent
seamer. Very weak batting lineup. 2 good wrist spinners but pacers
lose the plot in death overs.

Which leaves PAK

A bowling attack of Aamir,hasan,Shaheen,Faheem,shadab is comfortably the best in the World and will make a huge difference. Sarfraz can score quick runs as shown in the triseries final. Fakhar and Babar are world class batsmen and that is 8 players of high quality. It is not a complete team, but the remaining spots are being tried out by talented youngsters like Imam. But PAK don't depend much on batting. I expect only NZ and England to score somewhat off their bowling but with another couple of good batsmen this team are clearly favourites to win the cup. Nasser Hussain thought so too.

Thoughts?
 
Pakistan's bowling lineup is scary and with Fakhar, Babar they have decent enough batting. Also the world cup will be in England where Pakistan always performs out of their skins. So yeah they are favorites.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Not by much but it looks like Mickey and co. are giving chances to deserving youngsters and the team seems to be going from strength to strength. Let's look at the competition. We can disregard minnows or border line minnows like SL/WI/BD/AFG

SA - AB and Morne retired. Tahir in decline. Also known to choke.

ENG - Flashy batting lineup but vulnerable against quality bowling and on
slow pitches. Also bowling is extremely weak

AUS - No Smith or Warner. Batting is extremely weak and bowlers are
constantly injured

NZ - A very balanced team and probably one that can challenge PAK but i
don't think they have the bottle to go all the way. However, they
are dark horses.

IND - Batting heavily dependent on top 3 but then too in high pressure
chasing, only Kohli is proven. Rahul yet to establish himself, #5 and
#6 are duds and has beens. Pandya is a good hitter and a decent
seamer. Very weak batting lineup. 2 good wrist spinners but pacers
lose the plot in death overs.

Which leaves PAK

A bowling attack of Aamir,hasan,Shaheen,Faheem,shadab is comfortably the best in the World and will make a huge difference. Sarfraz can score quick runs as shown in the triseries final. Fakhar and Babar are world class batsmen and that is 8 players of high quality. It is not a complete team, but the remaining spots are being tried out by talented youngsters like Imam. But PAK don't depend much on batting. I expect only NZ and England to score somewhat off their bowling but with another couple of good batsmen this team are clearly favourites to win the cup. Nasser Hussain thought so too.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

If we find someone who is a spinner and clicks at the opening slot along with fakhar. Maybe Hafeez could do the job for us (as the ball doesn't swing much these days and he is a wonderful stroke player) or maybe harris could help.
If we have a decent opener(who balls spin) , we are going to be extremely hard to beat.
 
Lol nice try. We are a decent team, but nowhere near favourites
 
Pakistan are clearly the favourites and in my opinion they will win this World Cup..

I have said in multiple threads this is Pakistan’s World Cup no one can stop them from winning.
 
Bhaag Viru Bhaag said:
Pakistan's bowling lineup is scary and with Fakhar, Babar they have decent enough batting. Also the world cup will be in England where Pakistan always performs out of their skins. So yeah they are favorites.
Click to expand...

Australia have a better seam attack, but they don't have quality spinners. India also have a very good bowling lineup, if they drop pandaya to play a genuinely quick strike bowler they would be scary too. As of now it's between NZ and Pak. Both teams have got a complete arsenal at their disposal
 
Haha, Pakistan could be a 4th semi finalist.

After that everything is based on ur fortunes, and how fit ur playing 11 is.(after playing 9 games)
 
After Smith and Warner are back with their pace lineup of Starc, Hazlewood & Cummins with Agar and Mitch Marsh it will be tough side to beat for sure.
 
Sam99 said:
After Smith and Warner are back with their pace lineup of Starc, Hazlewood & Cummins with Agar and Mitch Marsh it will be tough side to beat for sure.
Click to expand...

A let up in the form of Agar and Marsh
 
The 2019 format will suit Pakistan - they can afford to have their usual shockers before cranking it up and pushing everyone out of the way to lift the cup.
 
Our bowling is a little overrated. It is a good bowling line up but not 'best by a long distance'. Amir is good and has shown himself to be a big match player. Hasan is a wicket taker but is also liable to get smacked when things dont go for him. Shaheen, Faheem, Shadab, Usman are all promising bowlers but too new to the game and haven't done anything special yet. In summary a good decent bowling attack and average batting unit. Pakistan are contenders but certainly not favorites.

India are clearly the favorites as long as they don't drop Dhoni. He is their lucky charm, has won them two world cups, a champions trophy and is absolutely critical to their success :msd
 
Not the favourites but definitely one of the semi finalists. It will then depend on clutch performances in the matches.
 
Pakistan are always among the 3 favorites in any tournanent they go. Ironically the biggest fools who underrate Pakistan are not Indians or anyone else but Pakistanis themselves. They criticize and downplay their team so heavily and unfairly to create an impression ghry absolutely suck which is far from truth. They may not have a famous batting line up but when it matters their batsmen have shown that they can get the job done. You never have to score 400 runs to win big tournanent matches. 250 is enough in them most of the times and they are well capable of scoring them.

Nothing to be said about their bowling which we all know is world class.
 
Sean143 said:
If we find someone who is a spinner and clicks at the opening slot along with fakhar. Maybe Hafeez could do the job for us (as the ball doesn't swing much these days and he is a wonderful stroke player) or maybe harris could help.
If we have a decent opener(who balls spin) , we are going to be extremely hard to beat.
Click to expand...

Five bowlers is enough in my opinion. But if you find two more batsmen like fakhar, you will smash all the teams I think.
 
Bhaag Viru Bhaag said:
Pakistan's bowling lineup is scary and with Fakhar, Babar they have decent enough batting. Also the world cup will be in England where Pakistan always performs out of their skins. So yeah they are favorites.
Click to expand...

Agreed. They perform better in England than they do in Pakistan/UAE itself. I think the conditions suit their kind of cricket.
 
Jin Chacha said:
Our bowling is a little overrated. It is a good bowling line up but not 'best by a long distance'. Amir is good and has shown himself to be a big match player. Hasan is a wicket taker but is also liable to get smacked when things dont go for him. Shaheen, Faheem, Shadab, Usman are all promising bowlers but too new to the game and haven't done anything special yet. In summary a good decent bowling attack and average batting unit. Pakistan are contenders but certainly not favorites.

India are clearly the favorites as long as they don't drop Dhoni. He is their lucky charm, has won them two world cups, a champions trophy and is absolutely critical to their success :msd
Click to expand...

The only chance India has is if that has been is dropped :moyo
 
Here is my ranking for the WC 19
1-India
2-England
3-Australia : full strength
4-Pakistan

10: Bangladesh
 
Pakistan will never be favourites unless they start beatin Eng, Aus, NZ etc. in ODI's which they have not done after the CT.

In a way it always works in Pak's favour and motivates them to do better in tourney's where it all counts.
 
We are nowhere near favourites. The only reason we have a good chance is because two of the top teams now (England and South Africa) choke in the Knockouts. India will beat us in any game we play before the finals, but if we meet in the final, it could go either way.

The issue is the format and there being one group with each team playing the other once

Pakistan can beat:
Afghanistan
West Indies
Sri Lanka
Bangladesh

May Beat:
New Zealand, England or South Africa, if the other team needs to win to qualify. However, we only play South Africa late on in the group, so I realistically expect 5 wins, 6 if we're lucky. Will that be enough? Most likely, no

Once it gets to the Semis, then we have a good chance. More chance of us not qualifying for the semis though
 
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All depends on our biggest match winner and most senior batsman - if Professor saab comes into peak form, then beware bowlers of the world , you are going to be getting a thrashing at the World Cup - because Hafeez is the one batsman like Saeed Anwar who can get you big 100s at the top of the order and set the foundation.
 
Nope. Not the favorites as team is too inexperienced, though potential is there. Excluding Malik our team doesnt have as many ODIs under their belt as Kohli alone.

Our top 3 are also one of the most inexperienced around among the top sided and are yet to play 100 matches combined.

Favorites are India, Eng and NZ.(Although always choke but they have one of the strongest teams)

Aus (Can never right them off in the world cup).

I would say Pak can work hard to make the semis and after that its all about the flow.

SA (Would be the weakest they have ever gone in the world cup, with Amla on his last legs, ABD retired, Duplesis was never really in that league, QDQ is only solid player but he is inconsistent, Rabada, Ngidi and Tahir are only ones to look for in bowling).
 
The favourites are England, Pakistan and India...in which order, I do not know.

As for Aus, Warner and Smith will be back, Starc and Hazlewood should be fit...that already looks like a stronger side.

In terms of Pakistan, their squad has to stay healthy for the remainder of the time and keep improving. The upcoming ODI series will tell us a lot about how things will pan out.
 
Many here are undermining NZ, on paper for these conditions I think they have a better team than Aus but I know they choke at big stage.
 
Aussies are gonna lack a leader as Smith and Warner cant lead most probably.
 
I know what the OP and our neighbours are trying to do but I'll bite.

English conditions have historically tended to suit us as the pitches don't have much pace or bounce so the batting can make runs. The dry surfaces we saw last year also allowed us to utilise reverse swing.

At venues like Lord's, The Oval and Cardiff spin can come into play so for our bowling there is no better venue outside Asia.

Where we need to work on is finding an aggressive secondary opener to partner Fakhar Zaman and get the captain Sarfraz back in form.

What also helps is having 5 ODIs in England before the WC so ideal preparation which we didn't have at the last World Cup, nor did we have the settled core group of players that we have now.
 
Can Pakistan win the world cup, yes but are they the favorites, No.

Plus with Pakistan to win, there are a lot of variables but they need following two to win semis and finals - dry pitch and batting first. On a good batting track i don't think Pakistan can chase 275+.
 
They are always favourites, extremely good bowling unit backed by good enough batting
 
Pakistan literally have 1 decent batsman in the whole side, the only thing they're favourite to do is beat Bangladesh.
 
Yes, Pakistan are clear favourites. Even the great analyst Nasser said so.

I’d put them above the likes of England,SA and NZ.
 
If India don't win the 2019 World Cup, the entire BCCI/anyone working behind the scenes coaching etc. must hand in the resignations. They have by far the biggest talent pool, the best resources, the best coaches, the most money and a well established team in it's prime. World Class coaches are in charge of it's domestic and regional teams. India not winning the 2019 World Cup will be a failure of epic proportions.

Pakistan on the other hand should be ready for 2023, on Indian soil. This current world cup has come slightly too soon, if the whole overhaul process had been started right after the 2015 world cup rather than waiting for the 2016 humiliation, the team would have been further ahead and more ready for the 2019 World Cup. Unfortunately not quite there yet.
 
Last 5 Cricket world cups have been won by sides who were overwhelming favourites even before the tournament started, so I would still back one of England or India to lift the trophy. Having said that, I won't completely write off Pakistan, they are definitely among the top-4 sides in English conditions.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Not by much but it looks like Mickey and co. are giving chances to deserving youngsters and the team seems to be going from strength to strength. Let's look at the competition. We can disregard minnows or border line minnows like SL/WI/BD/AFG

SA - AB and Morne retired. Tahir in decline. Also known to choke.

ENG - Flashy batting lineup but vulnerable against quality bowling and on
slow pitches. Also bowling is extremely weak

AUS - No Smith or Warner. Batting is extremely weak and bowlers are
constantly injured

NZ - A very balanced team and probably one that can challenge PAK but i
don't think they have the bottle to go all the way. However, they
are dark horses.

IND - Batting heavily dependent on top 3 but then too in high pressure
chasing, only Kohli is proven. Rahul yet to establish himself, #5 and
#6 are duds and has beens. Pandya is a good hitter and a decent
seamer. Very weak batting lineup. 2 good wrist spinners but pacers
lose the plot in death overs.

Which leaves PAK

A bowling attack of Aamir,hasan,Shaheen,Faheem,shadab is comfortably the best in the World and will make a huge difference. Sarfraz can score quick runs as shown in the triseries final. Fakhar and Babar are world class batsmen and that is 8 players of high quality. It is not a complete team, but the remaining spots are being tried out by talented youngsters like Imam. But PAK don't depend much on batting. I expect only NZ and England to score somewhat off their bowling but with another couple of good batsmen this team are clearly favourites to win the cup. Nasser Hussain thought so too.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Kohli no more a chase master, not in crucial games. He has to re invent himself as a chaser, currently it is looking very bad for us
 
Abdullah719 said:
http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...w-favourites-to-win-the-Champions-Trophy-2017

OP I hope this thread produces the same result as the above one :amla
Click to expand...

I was right then and i think i'm right now too brother. PAK had a lot of momentum going into that tournament and England is a very happy hunting ground for PAK. Its not just momentum i think you are building a world class side. Like i said if you ind two more world class batters apart from fakhar and babar you will not only win the cup but dominate ODI cricket for a few years.
 
If we still had Sharjeel, I'd be very confident in us beating any team. We don't have any opener of his quality coming up so that's a big hole in our lineup.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
I was right then and i think i'm right now too brother. PAK had a lot of momentum going into that tournament and England is a very happy hunting ground for PAK. Its not just momentum i think you are building a world class side. Like i said if you ind two more world class batters apart from fakhar and babar you will not only win the cup but dominate ODI cricket for a few years.
Click to expand...
Pakistan will never dominate. Even if you have eleven players of the calibre of Australia 2000s, we would still find a way to underachieve. Just not in our genes
 
BA56 said:
If India don't win the 2019 World Cup, the entire BCCI/anyone working behind the scenes coaching etc. must hand in the resignations. They have by far the biggest talent pool, the best resources, the best coaches, the most money and a well established team in it's prime. World Class coaches are in charge of it's domestic and regional teams. India not winning the 2019 World Cup will be a failure of epic proportions.

Pakistan on the other hand should be ready for 2023, on Indian soil. This current world cup has come slightly too soon, if the whole overhaul process had been started right after the 2015 world cup rather than waiting for the 2016 humiliation, the team would have been further ahead and more ready for the 2019 World Cup. Unfortunately not quite there yet.
Click to expand...

Good teams are not allowed to have bad days?
 
The format of this WC will be a problem for us. We can’t just manage a fluke win and sneak into the semifinals. We’ll have to beat most of the teams to get there.
 
kuskash said:
Good teams are not allowed to have bad days?
Click to expand...

They already had their bad days in CT, WC 15, and World T20. How many more bad days should a team be allowed to have? How many bad days did the 2000s Aus had in tournaments? Since some people feel this Indian team could potentially match that Aus team. Because of all the hype created around this team anything less than the final would be a failure, especially considering SA and Aus have not been very good lately.
 
Pakistan team is never a certainty for anything. The odds of us lifting the trophy or getting knocked out by Afghanistan in the preliminaries are almost always going to be the same.

Such is the curse, such is the blessing.
 
GoUgandaCranes said:
Pakistan team is never a certainty for anything. The odds of us lifting the trophy or getting knocked out by Afghanistan in the preliminaries are almost always going to be the same.

Such is the curse, such is the blessing.
Click to expand...
This is Pakistan's best chance since 1999 to win in my opinion .
 
Definitely one of the favourites. There is still enough time left. So, things may change but it shouldn't come as surprise if Pakistan lifts the trophy in Lords next year.

There is that kind of formula also going around like India won in 83, Australia then won in 87 and Pakistan followed it with a win. Similar story can be set up in 19 as well.

In contrast, if India wins the WC, it will be 3rd one and hence will establish ourselves as the second most successful country in ODI/LO in the history of cricket.
 
Titan24 said:
Many here are undermining NZ, on paper for these conditions I think they have a better team than Aus but I know they choke at big stage.
Click to expand...
We choke? :))

We punch above our weight to go as far as we do. Look at who we've lost to, generally those teams have been better than us and the favorites.

We need that one player that can grab the game by scruff of the neck and win us a match - someone like Chris Cairns. We don't have that, so at best it's a Semi Final and a defeat to a stronger team.

I have zero expectations going into this tournament, I will be content with a top 5 or 6 finish.
 
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Arham_PakFan said:
Pakistan are not the favorites for the World Cup.Good attempt by OP though.
Click to expand...
I actually think they are tbh.

Pakistan does well in England and have shown to handle the pressure of ICC tournaments. A lot of people aren't sold on England and think they will screw it up when the pressure is on.

Australia are an unknown, NZ and SA aren't expected to do well and the others are just there to make up the numbers and spring the odd upset to make things interesting.

It's between India, Pakistan and Aus IMO. I think Aus will come good.
 
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Next year is going to be a 4 team tournament essentially.

SA are out of the running with AB gone and don't have the team to win.

One of India, Pakistan, Aus or England will definitely win.

I'd say it's split 33% between India, Pakistan and Aus, but if England handle the pressure they can win too. I expect Aus to get it together for the tournament with Smith and Warner back.
 
Aman said:
Next year is going to be a 4 team tournament essentially.

SA are out of the running with AB gone and don't have the team to win.

One of India, Pakistan, Aus or England will definitely win.

I'd say it's split 33% between India, Pakistan and Aus, but if England handle the pressure they can win too. I expect Aus to get it together for the tournament with Smith and Warner back.
Click to expand...

New Zealand have been better than Australia for quite some time now. I'd replace OZ with NZ in that four. SA have no chance this time though. 2003 like exit for them.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
New Zealand have been better than Australia for quite some time now. I'd replace OZ with NZ in that four. SA have no chance this time though. 2003 like exit for them.
Click to expand...
Our middle order is too weak and our bowlers struggle on flat ptiches, it's been exposed time and time again.

Other teams have stronger batting line ups and we don't have that one batsmen/all rounder who can bring it together for our batting.

We're definitely not better than a full strength Australian team, their rookies comprehensively beat us.

Not too fussed about it, most of the country will be thinking of a three-peat in September.
 
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It is possible but I think other teams are now aware of the threat. After that CT, Pakistan won’t go into the WC as dark horses. I’m sure teams will be analysing a lot of footage.

They have a good team. The biggest advantage they have is that they don’t depend on one or two players. They have a long batting lineup and some very good bowlers. Batting is a concern but if they can perform well as a team it shouldn’t be a big issue. They should be reaching the semis. It’s hard to predict what will happen after that.
 
Abdullah said:
What exactly did Nasser say ( that op mentions)
Click to expand...
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Co-commentator during the recent England versus India ODI "we could see these two teams playing the World Cup final next year."<br>To which Nasser Hussain replied "watch Pakistan sneak in and win the World Cup."<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1018425377503444992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
jinx thread.. Pakistan wont reach even semis... they will bottle up under pressure..
South africa will do well as this is their first world cup where no one expecting anything from them.

Nz is always a hut and miss..

India looks like will stream roll everyone in this world cup. I think they will win this world cup easily.

Australia again is very low on confidence.. batting is very weak.

West Indies if they play full strength they might have a back door chance.
 
The team with the best bowling attack and a decent batsmen is the team that is always going to win the tournaments. Pakistan have their most bases covered except for one or two good batsmen. Yes they are the top favorites at the moment. India don't stand a chance under this current regime.
 
The OP up to his usual tricks :)) but ignoring all that I highly doubt anyone can confidently pick one team for 2019 right now as a genuine World Cup favourite. India, Pakistan, England, Australia and New Zealand are all contenders.
 
Not the favourites as of right now IMO but the squad is looking like a legitimate contender... which feels really odd to say considering the last decade before the CT.

Upcoming tour matches should give us a really good idea where Pakistan stand when they face India in Asia cup, NZ in UAE, SA and most importantly, England LOI tour just before the WC in England. Those matches should provide ample preparation and the combination for the squad. We are due to face Australia in LOI next year as well and if Warner/Smith are back in the squad by then, that would be excellent.

They are due to face stiff competition in the upcoming tours and even if they don't go well, it should give the team an idea where they stand and what they need to improve and hopefully make the necessary adjustments in the squad if needed.
 
Pakistan defo one of the favourites, and should make the semis at the bare. Once you get to the semis anything can happen.This is the first time that i can remember when the preparations have already begun so far in advance, we are finally looking like a professional outfit, an i think anything other than asemi will be a disappointment.
 
Sean143 said:
Australia have a better seam attack, but they don't have quality spinners. India also have a very good bowling lineup, if they drop pandaya to play a genuinely quick strike bowler they would be scary too. As of now it's between NZ and Pak. Both teams have got a complete arsenal at their disposal
Click to expand...

Where are Pakistan's quality ODI spinner? Shadab only looks like an outright match winner against Zimbabwe.

For Pakistan the NZ drubbing was a reality check; the ODI rankings are fairly accurate methinks. So I don't think the calculus will have changed so much since the CT. India should be favorites, with England/NZ/Pakistan on their heels and Australia not far off. Also believe Afghanistan will cause one or two serious upsets.
 
Can't believe how much champions australia are being underarted.Smith,warner,finch,marsh with the trio of cummins,hazelwood and starc is a strong team.
 
It looks like it.

Now arguably best commentator Nasser hussain also think Pakistan is favourites.
 
We need a second quality spinner or a batsman who can bowl decently and economically like Hafeez used to do ... unfortunately the latters batting is pretty inconsistent . Shadab can have a bad day against any team so can Faheem ..a good sixth bowler is must for the team !
 
No, it is India's cup to lose. They have issues in the middle order but the top 4 and spinners will do the job most of the time.

England will not even play the final. They have a very one dimensional team.

Pakistan is at best 2nd favorite to win it after India.
 
austerlitz said:
Can't believe how much champions australia are being underarted.Smith,warner,finch,marsh with the trio of cummins,hazelwood and starc is a strong team.
Click to expand...

Same team lost 4-1 to England at home, and eng had no stokes
 
austerlitz said:
Can't believe how much champions australia are being underarted.Smith,warner,finch,marsh with the trio of cummins,hazelwood and starc is a strong team.
Click to expand...

Even with their full strength squad they lost heavily to ENG at home and the CT

Their full strength squad is overrated
 
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