A lot is at stake during cricket’s most prestigious tournament. Teams leave no stone unturned to bring out their best at the big stage. The margin for error is minuscule.

The single team round-robin format has also been reintroduced after a gap of 27 years. This implies that each team will play the other team once and play 9 matches during the group stage.  Same format was used in the famous Cricket World cup 1992 in which Imran Khan’s cornered tigers stunned the world.

In such format, a team must show consistency to remain in contention for the top four spots. Each and every team in the world cup have bunch of players who can be match winners on their day. England has Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler.  India has Rohit, Kohli and Bumrah. These players can turn the game on their heads and can win matches for their team single handedly.

But what does Pakistan have to offer? Let’s see some of the players to watch out for in Team Pakistan:

1: Hasan Ali:

Hasan Ali is currently the best fast bowler in the current team. He is kind of a player who can rip through batting lineups in the middle overs which is the most important and match defining phase of a match. He announced himself at the biggest stage when he was instrumental in Pakistan’s historic champions trophy victory in 2017.  He finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 13 at an average of 14.69, while only conceding 4.29 an over. Hasan’s ability to strike regular middle-overs blows was a key factor in Pakistan lifting their first global ODI trophy since the 1992 World Cup. With summer expected to be hotter than usual this time in UK, pitches are expected to be dry and if there is any reverse on offer, this will make him more lethal in such conditions and he will be a really key factor for Pakistan’s chances in the world cup.

2: Shaheen Shah Afridi:

Shaheen Afridi is one of the most exciting emerging pace prospect of Pakistan cricket. With raw pace, brilliant line and length, excellent wrist position and tall height he has everything to become a future all-time great for Pakistan.  His ability to blow regular strikes in early overs give Pakistan a head start and advantage in early stages of a game. Shaheen rose to the prominence when Indian Legend Rahul Dravid praised him and said he has all it takes to be a future star and become a real asset to the national side. Afridi finished with 12 wickets in five games, the best for Pakistan and joint-fifth in the overall list. A string of decent performances in PSL 2018, followed by Windies tour to Pakistan, a dip in Amir’s form helped Shaheen to feature in ODI’s regularly for Pakistan. He never looked back since then and is a regular feature of Pakistan’s ODI team. With 19 wickets in 10 ODI games with impressive average of 19.36 and decent strike rate 24.2, he can be the X Factor for Pakistan going into this year’s mega event.

3: Babar Azam:

“Play the first and the last ball of a match” was the advice a 15-year-old Babar Azam got from his club coach in Lahore and that advice Babar has learnt off by heart. Top 3 of any team plays an important role to build the foundation for a team to get to a decent start and then provide a platform to lower order batsman to hit big in later overs. And he is playing that anchor role at number 3 perfectly for Pakistan for a while and he is currently considered as the backbone of Pakistan’s batting lineup. The maturity and calmness he possess on the field, he is considered as the next big thing in Pakistan cricket. Since cracking three consecutive centuries against West Indies in 2016 – just a year after his international baptism, Babar has risen to number fifth in ODI rankings. Cricket pundits compare Babar to current world’s best batsman Virat Kohli of India. Babar’s stupendous start to international cricket hints he has the ability to match the Indian superstar, if not overtake him. For a fact, Babar has scored 1,000 and 2,000 ODI runs faster than Kohli. The last four years have seen him mature as one of the top batsman in limited-overs cricket.  Pitches in England will suit batsman and his role at number 3 will be really vital for Pakistan to get big scores regularly at the world cup.

Although the Pakistan team is as unpredictable as English weather, but you can’t write them off. They have a history of doing well in England, perhaps due to their bowling. Even though selection committee made a huge statement by excluding non-performing Amir from 15 men squad for the world cup, but this team still have enough firepower to demolish any opposition on their day and the passion and hunger for success these guys have, could well turn out to be the spark Pakistan team needs to lift the much-coveted trophy.

The post Players To Watch Out For Pakistan In World Cup appeared first on Dunya News Blogs.

Brendon McCullum’s retirement will bring an end to one of the great chapters of New Zealand cricket. He is the only Kiwi captain who played final of cricket’s mega event World Cup. Although New Zealand failed to win the World Cup 2015, no one can ignore the aggressive captaincy of McCullum.

Here are the things that you might not know about Brendon McCullum.

1) Nickname:

Cricketers have nicknames. Shahid Afridi is known as ‘Boom Boom’ while Ricky Ponting is ‘Punter’ and Michael Clarke is ‘Pup’. Brendon McCullum has his own nickname that most of the people might not know about. He is also known as ‘Baaz’.

2) Born cricketer:

When we talk about Brendon McCullum, we can say that cricket is in his blood. He is not the first of his family who is playing cricket. He grew up in cricketing household. His father Stuart McCullum was also a wicket keeper. He played 75 first-class matches but never made it to the international circuit. He did not have a formidable record in both first-class and list-A matches.

His brother Nathan McCullum is also playing for New Zealand along with him. He is an all-rounder who is playing as a One Day International (ODI) and Twenty 20 specialist. Nathan is yet to make his Test debut.

3) Early days of cricket:

McCullum’s cricketing career started in December 1996. He played for Otago under-17s. He played his first under-17 match against Northern Districts.

McCullum was part of the Kiwi squad for under-19 World Cup 2000. That World Cup featured various cricketing starts such as Yuvraj Singh, Muhammad Kaif, Graeme Smith, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson. McCullum’s brother Nathan McCullum was also part of the Kiwi squad.

4) Devastating start to captaincy:

We all know McCullum as one of the most aggressive captains of the modern era but very few know what had happened when he made his captaincy debut.

He captained his first match against South Africa. It was the worst match of McCullum’s career. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Black caps were all out for 45. McCullum scored 7 runs which was third highest of his team.

In reply, South Africa declared on 347 for 8. In the end Kiwis lost the match by an innings and 27 runs.

5) Mr ‘fastest’:

Brendon McCullum is one the aggressive batsmen of all time. He is the fastest century maker from New Zealand (off 78 balls). He also holds the record of making the fastest half-century in World Cup (recently made in World Cup 2015). It took 18 balls for McCullum to reach this milestone. He is the only batsman who scored the World Cup half-century with the strike rate of over 300.

6) McCullum ‘The Columnist’:

McCullum also writes columns for the Daily Mail. He wrote various columns for cricketers on subjects including when he called English Test captain Alastair Cook as stubborn bast**d (in a good way).

7) A choice of many teams:

Brendon McCullum has represented various teams in different leagues. He played for Chennai Super Kings, New South Wales, Kolkata Knight Riders, Canterbury, Brisbane Heat, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Sussex, and Warwickshire, Otago and Glamorgan.

See what Twitterati have to say about the New Zealand skipper’s retirement

Brendon McCullum is prolly the nicest guy in today's cricket but to retire 2 months before an ICC event he was supposed to lead is not nice.

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) December 23, 2015

Brendon McCullum has been a great ambassador for New Zealand cricket. Very positive, aggressive, and entertaining player who will be missed.

— waqar younis (@waqyounis99) December 23, 2015

Congratulations Brendon McCullum, a great role model & game changer as a batsman & captain. #McCullumRetirement @BLACKCAPS

— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) December 22, 2015

Here is the highlight of one of Brendon McCullum’s most aggressive innings:

The post 7 things you might wanna know before McCullum retires appeared first on Dunya News Blogs.