Babar's position is confusing, does he come in the middle order or should he open the innings?
There's two teams we can go with, both are quite unique and untested:
Option #1:
Babar Azam (c)
Mohammad Rizwan
Sharjeel Khan
Mohammad Hafeez
Fakhar Zaman
Haider Ali
Faheem Ashraf
Mohammad Nawaz/Usman Qadir
Hasan Ali
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Haris Rauf
In option 1, we see an unorthodox approach where we want stability at the top of the order rather than explosiveness. Once a wicket falls, Sharjeel is allowed to come on and play his natural game. If Sharjeel pulls off a Sharjeel and is dismissed cheaply, Hafeez is there to steady the tempo in the middle overs, where I have placed Fakhar Zaman specifically to combat the threat of Tabraiz Shamsi. Haider Ali is down further at 6 because it's where he's least likely to face Shamsi, assuming that SAF doesn't hold an over of Shamsi near the death specifically for Haider. Bowling resources are a bit limited, and it requires Hafeez to be the sixth bowling option. I wouldn't mind slotting in Danish Aziz for Haider as the 6th bowling option, but I think it's fair to give Haider one more opportunity to produce some compelling results.
Option 2:
Fakhar Zaman
Sharjeel Khan
Babar Azam (c)
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfaraz Ahmed/Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
Haider Ali/Danish Aziz
Mohammad Nawaz/Usman Qadir
Hasan Ali
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Haris Rauf
This option is ultra-aggressive at the top of the order, going for maximum output and high-risk play. It could backfire as we could suffer yet another collapse, but if it works out, it will put us in a better position. If Danish Aziz slots in ahead of Haider, it gives us another bowling option, especially if we aren't confident in Hafeez's bowling ahead of the World Cup.
I haven't really spoken about our bowling, but one person's role needs defining: Shaheen Shah Afridi.
He bowls a brute of a yorker when he lands it well, but he hasn't taken the pressure of bowling in the death too well. His economy rate is about 10 in the death overs versus 6.8 in the powerplay. Now, I think it would be quite foolish to make him bowl in places where he isn't comfortable bowling. It's a skill he'll learn as he bowls more in T20s, but right now, we need the best possible performance from him. This is why I think Shaheen should be bowling the 1st, 3rd, and 10th overs, before bowling one in the death. That way, he is able to bowl one over with freedom in the middle overs where he can utilize his slower ball variations, short balls, and bouncers which he can't do in the powerplay or in the death. One option could also be to finish all his overs by the 12th over, and I'm thinking this because we aren't looking at Shaheen's strengths properly. With the new ball in hand, he will always go looking for swing which is acceptable, before he starts to put the ball in on a length. A bouncer in the powerplay is risky because any contact can result in a boundary, and slower-balls are both risky in the powerplay and in the death. This is why I think he needs to come in the middle overs. He can bowl the yorkers, the bouncers, the slower balls and any other variations to get wickets without the external pressure of bowling in the death. It will improve his game a lot in my opinion.
Hasan Ali should bowl one over in the powerplay and the rest in the death. Faheem needs to be utilized in the powerplay so that Hasan and Haris can have overs to spare in the middle and near the death as well.
That's what I'm thinking as of now.
