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Are Pakistan now favourites for the World Cup?

They always were, and when they were not, they HAVE WON IT.

Still remember 1996/1999/2003 teams, they were favorites in all 3 WC.
 
For WC 2019, it will again be which Asian team or Australia will win it.

Likes of NZ/SA/Eng don't have it to perform consistently against different opponents. They love bilateral series, where they want to get a game to understand opposition first and then they plan it, and then comes the performance. That's why at some stage, they generally loses an all-important game and goes crashing out from the tournaments

Bangladesh/Afganistan : Simply they are not good enough. Bangladeshis can make a lot of noise, but again for them to take 1/2 upset wins will be enough for their calibre.

Australia : People might underestimate them now, but they have the best shot at the WC next year. Australia was never alien to conditions in England. It was the non-stop cricket their cricketers were playing in last few years or so, who now have gotten a much needed rest, and to heal injuries, to become better. More so, they will be fired up to prove.

India : On paper the real contenders, but again it takes one good spell or one good knock to knock them out.

Pakistan : They are progressing from strengths to strengths. However, their fate will be decided on 25th July, which Pakistan team will turn up next year. New govt. can create concerns, panicks, and what nots in the PCB hierarchy which flow downstream within the team management and team. No body knows whether Najam Sethi, Inzi, Mickey or even Sarafaraz will be there in Asia Cup 2018, let alone WC next year.

SL : Dark horses for next year WC. Nobody knows who they are how they will play.

WI : Eagerness to win games is their downfall. If they play with young squad in WC 2019, they might do something. On the other hand if they take their team of mercenaries like Gayle, Pollard, Bravo etc. then it will be a disaster for them.
 
We may be peaking at the right time .... but the match against the Indians always scares me .... one can throw out all the stats and the form of the players .... etc etc !!!!
There is something in those matches that is not easy to pin point to .... may be some of you have a better understanding of the intangibles !!!!!!
 
Syed1 said:
Now watch us crash and burn and lose 8 out of 9 matches.


We never do well when we are the favourites for anything... I think dark horse tag suits us best.
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Except that we aren't favourites and are dark horses anyway
Favourites would be England and India.Maybe Australia too if they get back their full-strength team.
 
Mamoon said:
To summarize your post: if Pakistan can find 4-5 excellent players, it will become a top team. Very insightful analysis of course, since it doesn’t apply to pretty much any team in the world.
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You need to improve your comprehension skills then , I said if we find an attacking opener to partner with Fakhar that means ONE player not 4-5 excellent players , rest I was talking about improvement needed in Asif Ali and Faheem Ashraf which is very much possible in an years time.
 
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muhammad saad said:
You need to improve your comprehension skills then , I said if we find an attacking opener to partner with Fakhar that means ONE player not 4-5 excellent players , rest I was talking about improvement needed in Asif Ali and Faheem Ashraf which is very much possible in an years time.
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I am sorry, let me summarize your post again.

If this happens and that happens Pakistan will become a contender for the World Cup.
 
England and India are favourites. Consistently been the strongest teams in recent years.

Then probably Australia. Didn't think they would be, but Smith and Warner return before the start of the world cup. They also probably have all their best pacers fit and firing in the same time which they often don't do for series. They won the world cup in 2015, and a lot of those players are still there with some new additions here and there. And when a lot of those players have winning a world cup etched in their memories, they're probably not going to show as much nerves as they've been there done that before.

I think we're about 4th. We have a recent CT trophy going for us, won the World cup before, and a fairly well rounded side.

NZ and SA lag behind us in the runnings despite being ahead of us in rankings, and probably would (NZ would as they showed in the recent series) beat us in a series. But SA are going in without AB, not a very settled side, Steyn not at his best atm etc. a bit of a transition. NZ are a strong side but aren't as good as they were in 2015, and again like SA their lack of trophies hampers them, always harder to win your first world cup.

The good thing like the recent CT, this Pak team has the potential to win. Good enough players to reach the latter stages, then all you have to do is play well in the latter stages. The teams that turned up for CT 13, and WC 15 just didn't have the quality really to even compete sadly.
 
Favorites on forums or in minds is one thing, i look at people who put their money where their mouth is.

For those people, England is top favorite with 27% probability of winning, India next at 21%, Aus at 16%, SA at 12%, and NZ/Pak tied at 11%. Normally favorite teams don't start with such low odds, but because of this WC format, the broad calculations are that England and India should qualify for semis and hence such low odds.
 
Mamoon said:
I am sorry, let me summarize your post again.

If this happens and that happens Pakistan will become a contender for the World Cup.
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Realistically speaking we need to make it in the final four and then it's anybody's game from there. You need to also remember that we were not a contender for the Champions trophy as well however we eventually won it in the end because we had two clinical games in the Semis as well as the finals.

The target should be to make the final four first and then take it a game at a time from there onwards.
 
ahmedwaqas92 said:
Realistically speaking we need to make it in the final four and then it's anybody's game from there. You need to also remember that we were not a contender for the Champions trophy as well however we eventually won it in the end because we had two clinical games in the Semis as well as the finals.

The target should be to make the final four first and then take it a game at a time from there onwards.
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Pakistan’s last two group games are against Bangladesh and Afghanistan, both winnable games. Those two wins can prove to be crucial as far as qualifying for the semifinals are concerned.

The Champions Trophy is different because a good run of form can win you the tournament, but 9 group games is something that goes against Pakistan, especially when England and India are pretty much guaranteed to make it to the semifinals.
 
Even I feel Pakistan may win the world cup, not because they are a complete team but a team which may punch above their weights & also the way they showed intensity as in 1992 edition at crucial times and few things falling in their place! Also considering their history as one of the top cricketing team, I think their 2nd world cup is due! Actually other teams are not even half as good as in 1992 edition (Aus, Eng, RSA, NZ, WI were all Top Class teams then!)
 
Also it is a tournament, which may suit Pakistan's style of current team! If it is a bilateral series then winning against top teams continuously can be tough for Pakistan, but since it is a tournament they can plan out a method to beat these teams on match to match basis as they did in CT...
 
RamLakhan said:
Even I feel Pakistan may win the world cup, not because they are a complete team but a team which may punch above their weights & also the way they showed intensity as in 1992 edition at crucial times and few things falling in their place! Also considering their history as one of the top cricketing team, I think their 2nd world cup is due! Actually other teams are not even half as good as in 1992 edition (Aus, Eng, RSA, NZ, WI were all Top Class teams then!)
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You need bucketloads of luck to win a wc like Pakistan did in 1992. I don't think it will happen with the same team again. Pakistan lost like to 4 or 5 teams and yet won the WC, and even Pakistanis will agree that luck can't be a strategy to win. Pakistan can obviously win like they won the CT in an absolutely clinical manner by defeating every country they played against. I would personally put money on Pakistan simple because the odds to back them are very attractive considering I feel they will get to semis.
 
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England are favourites, they are at home as well. But still they are beatable on the day especially as their bowling is hit and miss.

After that I will give India the slight nodd and then put Pakistan, Australia, NZ in the same bracket.

Pakistan definitely an improved one day side but there are some chinks in the armour.
 
Mamoon said:
Pakistan’s last two group games are against Bangladesh and Afghanistan, both winnable games. Those two wins can prove to be crucial as far as qualifying for the semifinals are concerned.

The Champions Trophy is different because a good run of form can win you the tournament, but 9 group games is something that goes against Pakistan, especially when England and India are pretty much guaranteed to make it to the semifinals.
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On current form, only England, India, and NZ are better teams. Anything less than a semi final will be a disappointment.
 
Australia, in my opinion has the best chance. People may laugh at me.
After 2015 WC, Aussies were the most unprofessional team, and this ball tampering has given a huge kick on their butts.

They will be the most focussed, united and non favorites. Suddenly, someone will start firing in the WC.
Still remember 1999 WC, when they were not even the top 4 teams for WC.
 
Playing 11 should be
imam, fakhar, babar, malik, sarfi, asif, sadab, faheem, amir, hasan, shinwari.
Bench
hafeez, Haris,shaheen,Nawaz
 
Nil Dhumrojal said:
What if pak looses to both afg and bd???
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It is not pakistan of 2015 you will see in upcoming asia cup how pakistan toy with the bd and afghanistan .

Nevertheless upset do happen against minnow so you never know
 
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Next 8-9 ODIs will determine it clearly but at the moment I can see Pakistan as a semifinalist. If Fukhar , Babar and Imam continue to perform like they did in Zim and Bowlers continue to perform then nobody can stop Pakistan
 
Both Fakhar and :moyo believe that PAK are favourites for the World Cup as well. This is in addition to what the liked of Nas and Murgatroyd have said. I guess the Asia Cup and the ODIs against Enzed and OZ will give us a better idea.
 
As teams gear up for the World Cup, which begins in England from May 30, former England batsman, Kevin Pietersen, believes that if last year’s summer repeats itself, the teams from the sub-continent will have an advantage in the tournament.

“Last summer was one of the (most) beautiful summers since 1976. It was one of the hottest reported in the UK and there was hardly any rain and the conditions were extremely dry,” Pietersen said during a panel discussion on Thursday.

Pietersen admitted that the conditions have changed immensely in England.

“When I started playing for England in 2004, we did not have the sub-air system underneath the grounds to take out the moisture. So, before the sub-air system came in, if there was a huge rain-storm the day was washed out. But it has changed as all the grounds have brought in sub-air system,” he said.

“Lord’s started it and it went to other Test grounds to maximise the amount of playing time. If a storm came through, the sub-air system obviously dragged the moisture.”

However, it has had an impact on the wickets. “We started a Test match against India and on Day One it was an absolute green surface, but by the end of Day Two it was completely dry. We did not have any rain on the day but the moisture that was keeping the system dry was completely deflating any grass on the wicket. I think the sub-continent teams will have a massive role to play in the World Cup if we have a repeat of last year’s summer,” Pietersen said.

However, he sounded a bit concerned for the home team. “The one downside for England is that if they have the license to go after the bowling from ball No. 1, then in those conditions --- swing and seam --- they will find it difficult. We have seen that happen recently in the West Indies (in Barbados), when the wicket was doing a bit. Although England has a formidable batting, they can get undone,” Pietersen stated.

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/cric...tersen-england-team-india/article26733702.ece


Interesting points by KP
 
Didn't notice this thread in past (those days I was preparing for CFA II, which also coincided with our 43 all out, so obviously PP had a clue) .....going through old thread is fun indeed.
 
MenInG said:
As teams gear up for the World Cup, which begins in England from May 30, former England batsman, Kevin Pietersen, believes that if last year’s summer repeats itself, the teams from the sub-continent will have an advantage in the tournament.

“Last summer was one of the (most) beautiful summers since 1976. It was one of the hottest reported in the UK and there was hardly any rain and the conditions were extremely dry,” Pietersen said during a panel discussion on Thursday.

Pietersen admitted that the conditions have changed immensely in England.

“When I started playing for England in 2004, we did not have the sub-air system underneath the grounds to take out the moisture. So, before the sub-air system came in, if there was a huge rain-storm the day was washed out. But it has changed as all the grounds have brought in sub-air system,” he said.

“Lord’s started it and it went to other Test grounds to maximise the amount of playing time. If a storm came through, the sub-air system obviously dragged the moisture.”

However, it has had an impact on the wickets. “We started a Test match against India and on Day One it was an absolute green surface, but by the end of Day Two it was completely dry. We did not have any rain on the day but the moisture that was keeping the system dry was completely deflating any grass on the wicket. I think the sub-continent teams will have a massive role to play in the World Cup if we have a repeat of last year’s summer,” Pietersen said.

However, he sounded a bit concerned for the home team. “The one downside for England is that if they have the license to go after the bowling from ball No. 1, then in those conditions --- swing and seam --- they will find it difficult. We have seen that happen recently in the West Indies (in Barbados), when the wicket was doing a bit. Although England has a formidable batting, they can get undone,” Pietersen stated.

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/cric...tersen-england-team-india/article26733702.ece


Interesting points by KP
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Now, I know why Yasir is called for the WC camp .........
 
Not to blow my own trumpet, but I have to admit I am extremely proud of my posts in this thread.

Alas, if only people were willing to listen.
 
A lot of people won't like it but I still believe we are the fourth semi finalists and once we get to the knockouts you never know.
 
For me Pakistan is more favourite than india in this world cup because the pitch won't be like the current pakistan series in world cup.
 
Yes.

After racking up 3 scores of 340 plus in 3 games, we must be favorites for the title.
 
Gabbar Singh said:
+1

Today has shown what Pakistan can do.
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Belly aka :sarf has roused his troops after the recent string of losses. Pakistan lost to Afghanistan and WI but now look set to beat the top ranked England. The question is whether they'll be consistent enough for the rest of their campaign.
 
Pakistan is one of two teams who in my opinion are favorites to win this World cup.
 
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