On the bright side, Pakistan’s cricketers have barely had time to brood or mope. On the other hand, there’s been no time to lick their wounds either, after the six-run defeat to India that might just have sealed their T20 World Cup fate. There has been an avalanche of criticism in the wake of their performances against the USA and India, with even Gary Kirsten, their new coach, chiming in and saying players need to either evolve or make way.
The bowlers did their job superbly against India, and should be too strong for a callow Canadian line-up to handle. Pakistan’s lack of a quality spinner remains a concern, but the four pace bowlers are as fearsome a prospect as any.
You can’t say the same of a batting group in wretched form. Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, reunited at the top of the order before this tournament, may be separated again in order for Saim Ayub to be drafted in. If Babar does drop down to No. 3, Usman Khan should be the one to make way. Despite his leg-spin having lost all potency, Shadab Khan remains one of Pakistan’s most useful middle-order hitters.
Canada were brilliant with the bat against the USA – losing only to Aaron Jones’s blitz – and superb with the ball in beating Ireland. To upset Pakistan in what is the first of their Cup ‘finals’ – they play India next, on June 15 – both units will need to be on song simultaneously. The game-breaker could well be Nicholas Kirton, whose clean ball-striking has already caught the eye of many a T20 franchise scout.
PAK vs CAN Pitch Report
There should be a fresh strip for this match. But even after the remedial work done on the drop-in pitches by the ICC’s experts, the two subsequent matches – India-Pakistan and South Africa-Bangladesh – were both low-scoring thrillers. It’s highly unlikely that we’ll get a run-fest.
PAK vs CAN Head-to-Head
These teams met more than 15 years ago, at King City in Canada, with Pakistan winning by 35 runs. They haven’t played each other since.
PAK vs CAN Predicted XIs
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saim Ayub, Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Amir.
Canada: Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Dilpreet Bajwa, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Dilon Heyliger, Saad Bin Zafar (c), Kaleem Sana, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon.
PAK vs CAN Toss time
This match will begin at 8pm IST, with the toss taking place at 7:30pm.
PAK vs CAN Telecast: Star Sports network
PAK vs CAN Live streaming: Disney plus Hotstar
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