Pakistan VS England T20I: Did Pakistan's dependence on Babar and Rizwan spell doom?

With Fakhar Zaman ruled out of the World Cup, dependence on openers has proved fatal for the team in the latest seven-match T20I series against England.

On Sunday, Pakistan lost the T20I series against England by 3-4, hosting them after 17 years. 

Since the Asia Cup, Fakhar Zaman also looked a little inconsistent, leaving all the tasks up to the openers. 

A glimpse of it was evident in the final decider, T20I against England, where nobody except for Shan Masood scored 50-plus while chasing a target of 210. 

"The problem lies in the lower order as we have seen in the Asia Cup as well. Batters coming in at the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh number, should hit the strike rate of 150. Then only we can achieve the target. It's not that England played well, but Pakistan were 15-20 runs short," said Inzamam ul Haq.

In the match, both the openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan had a day out of luck, dismissed within the first two overs for mere five runs. 

Following their departure, England had already won the battle as it exposed the fragility of the middle-order if none of the openers was there on the other end to fetch quality runs. 

"Pakistan middle order is not good. Plus Pakistan's openers if they don't perform, the middle order gets into pressure. This is not the way to go into a world cup if you want to win the world cup. It is very sad," said Shoaib Akhtar.

Can Pakistan regroup for World Cup after a shock defeat?

The squad announced for Pakistan saw the return of their star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi who is still in recovery after a knee injury. 

The notable exclusion that Pakistan might look to include is Fakhar Zaman. The batter was in Asia Cup and had an underwhelming outing but still makes up a better middle-order batter than many in the squad. He has been kept in reserves due to injury concerns on his knee which opened the gate for Shan Masood. 

Additionally, Shahnawaz Dahani gave a decent performance in the Asia Cup despite being kept in the reserves. Not only did he display his power-hitting, but he also helped control the flow of runs in the middle-over. 

If included Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan can use him to open alongside Mohammad Rizwan as he carried a strike rate of 139.65 as an opener in T20s since 2017. Babar Azam will play the bridge between openers and fragile middle order by coming in at three. 

However, it is doubtful that they would undergo a change or regroup their squad for the World Cup, especially when they are just 12 days away from the tournament commencement. Their middle order has been fragile for a long time, inviting criticism from their former cricketers. But still, the team looked to favour dependence on top-order and bowlers rather than bringing in change in the middle.