You know the nation is skeptical when the loss of an opening batsman through an unfortunate injury is met by overwhelming cheers across the social media.

While I do feel sorry for Mohammad Hafeez, let’s be honest, with an illegal bowling action, the otherwise useful all-rounder from Sargodha isn’t skilled enough to justify his place as a specialist batsman.

His replacement, the 25-year-old Nasir Jamshed, is an opener whose 45-match ODI record isn’t significantly better, yet his best innings have shown more potential. While Nasir needs to iron out some technical flaws, his defenses are stronger than those of the man he replaces, and he carries the ability to both graft and attack.

Nasir Jamshed’s entry should please Misbah-ul-Haq, who reportedly fought for the young specialist opener to be part of the original squad.

On the other hand, news that Saeed Ajmal has been cleared by the ICC has been understandably met with caution by the team’s management, including the captain, vice captain, and the PCB chairperson.

While a possible injury to Sohail Khan opens a window, the management would be reluctant to replace a fast bowler with a slow bowler. What’s more, at the age of 37, with an untried and untested remodeled action, Ajmal could result in some dangerous friendly fire on the battlefield.

Regardless, Ajmal’s loss is a big blow to Pakistan.

A more precarious situation than 1992

Some have argued that Pakistan’s current misfortunes, where we have lost our best all-rounder (who happened to be our opener and most economical spinner), as well as our best spinner and our steadiest seam bowler, are similar to the adversities we faced before the victorious 1992 World Cup campaign.

This may be an overly romantic notion.

To compare our situation now to that of Imran Khan’s eventual triumph would be like comparing a tsunami to a wind storm. Although Pakistan had lost Waqar Younis before the tournament began, they boasted legends such as Imran Khan and Javed Miandad.

Another false belief of certain experts is that Wasim Akram and Aaqib Javed only established themselves in the 1992 World Cup. As a matter of fact, the two were already proven match-winners. Who can forget Wasim’s rapid-fire 123 against the Aussies in 1989, and his deadly spells of 6 for 62 and 5 for 98? In total, before 1992 he carried nine impressive 5-wicket hauls.

Meanwhile, Aaqib Javed had delivered some lethal spells of swing bowling of his own before 1992; his 7/37 against India, which included a wonderful hat-trick of LBWs, had been earned a year earlier.

Coming to the batsmen, Ramiz Raja and Aamir Sohail had enough experience under their belt as openers. Similarly, Moin Khan had been part of the team for some time. Even with such proven talent, Pakistan did not win without good fortune.

Yes, while certain players such as Mushtaq Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq only hit their peak during the tournament, Imran Khan’s shrewd planning had meant that the nucleus was already in place.

But realistically speaking, for every Mushtaq and Inzamam, there was an Iqbal Sikandar and Zahid Fazal who failed to make an impact.

On the other hand, players from our current squad such as Mohmmad Irfan, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah, Nasir Jamshed, Shoaib Maqsood, Sarfaraz Ahmed and the like, have not been a regular part of the ODI team and don’t boast great achievements.

If Mushtaq and Inzamam proved to be our miracles in 1992, we need at least three times as many miracles to be effective this time Down Under.

Misbah will have to change tactics

Misbah-ul-Haq arrives at a press conference in Sydney on February 8, 2015, ahead of the Cricket World Cup. —AFP

This may have made for some depressing reading, but in spite of these giant hurdles, Pakistan certainly has a decent chance of taking the cup home. This is due to the rather strange nature of the tournament where any top team would have to play incredibly poorly to not qualify for the knockout stage.

From each pool of seven teams, four will qualify for the quarterfinals. Here, Pakistan only has to play better than the UAE, Zimbabwe, and our most frightening foe, Ireland. Even if we fail against one of the weaker teams, we are likely to overcome West Indies, India, or South Africa in one of these three games.

From here, it is simply a matter of three knockout games where, if Pakistan carries the momentum, they can certainly challenge anyone.

For that to happen, Pakistan will need luck, the right team composition, and a change in mentality from skipper Misbah-ul-Haq.

Although the respectable Pakistani captain’s careful leadership has resulted in some unexpectedly good results in Test cricket, our ODI record has been abysmal for some time. Of course, the team should take the lion’s share of the blame, considering that even Shahid Afridi’s more aggressive captaincy has done little to yield better results.

But Misbah-ul-Haq needs to realise that his approach needs some mending.

The general feeling is that the skipper will continue with the tried-and-failed experienced players until the changes are forced upon him by a string of losses.

By that time, the backup players would have had little practice and would be too undercooked to have a real chance when staring down the barrel.

Some potential match-winners:

For Pakistan to win, Misbah-ul-Haq needs to stay ahead of the curve, and plan for the quarterfinals match right now with the safe assumption that his team will qualify. This is why it is crucial that by the time Pakistan hit the knockout stage, the right match-winners are in form. These players should be identified and given match practice instead of warming the benches.

Yasir Shah: Traditionally, leg spinners enjoy the extra bounce in Australia, and Yasir Shah shouldn’t be left out of the playing XI. He bowled some beautiful Test match spells against Australia, and could be our Mushtaq Ahmed this time around. In his first practice game against Bangladesh, he grabbed two wickets in an economical spell.

Sohaib Maqsood: He is a fine aggressive batsman who has played well against fast bowlers such as Dale Steyn. Maqsood has the ability to win his team matches single-handedly, and can emulate Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Maqsood, like Fawad Alam, has long been neglected and his fans have been calling for his inclusion. His match winning performance of 91* saved us an embarrassing loss against Bangladesh after finally earning a chance. One can only imagine how strong our middle order would have been with both Fawad and Maqsood side by side.

Wahab Riaz: A player who has infuriated fans with inconsistent performances is Wahab Riaz, but he could be our x-factor. Riaz can bowl extremely fast, is a useful bat, and was deadly against India in the World Cup semifinal four years ago.

For consistent success, Pakistan requires five solid bowling options, which means that Wahab Riaz, with his eight first-class 50s, needs to step up as a batsman, and Haris Sohail needs to step up as a bowler.

As coach, Waqar Younis has a history of asking his erratic fast bowlers to cut down on pace and stick to line and length. His strategy didn’t work on Mohmmad Sami, who continued to leak runs yet also dried up on wickets.

Pakistan’s bowling attack is being dominated regardless at the moment, so perhaps it is time to show Riaz videos of his performance against India, and unshackle him like Imran Khan did Wasim Akram.

Nothing would please me more than Younis Khan scoring heavily in the tournament, but at the age of 37, he hasn’t established himself in ODIs as of yet.

It is unlikely that he will leave the squad, unless Fawad Alam hires some Australian thugs. In the practice game against Bangladesh, he failed yet again, out for 25 after facing 41 deliveries.*

For Pakistan to win, Misbah needs to think clinically.

Playing inexperienced talent may mean a more unpredictable first group match against India, but it could be Pakistan’s only chance in the long run.

To play like Imran’s cornered tigers, our boys need to fearlessly play to their strengths.

*Correction: A previous version of the article erroneously mentioned Younis Khan as having faced 60 deliveries against Bangladesh. The error is regretted and has been fixed.