T20 World Cup: Road ahead for Pakistan after historic win against India

Pakistan started
their T20 World Cup 2021 campaign with a historic win and ended a losing streak against India in the ICC tournaments. Babar Azam-led team completely outclassed the Men in Blue and dominated the entire 40 overs.

Also Read: T20 World Cup: Road ahead for India after defeat to Pakistan

Winning the
toss and opting to bowl went right for Pakistan. As Shaheen Afridi’s
sharp in-swing bowling destroyed the top order of the Indian team, the unbeaten opening
partnership between Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam guided the team to a comprehensive win, by 10 wickets.

Also Read: Not pressing the ‘panic button’: Indian skipper Kohli on defeat against Pakistan

Pakistan are currently topping Group 2 in Super 12 with a positive net run rate of 0.973. The
other four teams in the group are New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia.

Pakistan will
face each country once during the league stages. To qualify for the
semi-finals, Pakistan will have to finish the league stages in the top two. Here
is a look at Pakistan’s upcoming matches for the rest of the T20 World Cup. 

Also Read: Hardik Pandya sent for scans after shoulder injury in India-Pakistan game

New Zealand

Pakistan will
play their next match against New Zealand on October 26. New Zealand can be a threat to Pakistan, keeping in mind their solid bowling attack. In the head-to-head, both teams have faced each other 5 times. New Zealand have twice whereas Pakistan have won thrice.

The match against New Zealand is expected to be a high-octane match as they had cancelled the tour of Pakistan.

Afghanistan

The strongest
part of the Afghan team is their experienced spin bowling line-up. Because of
the slow and rough patches in Sharjah, the spin trio
of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman may create difficulty for
the opposition.

In the head-to-head, Pakistan
have managed to win the lone encounter.

Also Read: A look at Babar Azam’s best T20 knocks after his unbeaten 68 against India

Namibia

Namibia reached
the T20 World Cup second round for the first time. They defeated
superior-ranked teams on the group stage. With less international experience, Pakistan will be eye two easy points. The match will be played on November 2 in Abu Dhabi.

Scotland

Scotland is full of confidence after winning all three games of the first round of T20 World Cup 2021 including a famous win over Bangladesh. Even though Pakistan has experience on its side, they will be wary of the opposition.