The Pakistan team embarks on their World Cup journey today, facing the Dutch, who are participating in the tournament for the fifth time after failing to qualify in the previous two.

Despite being a formidable team just two months ago, Pakistan face a dilemma in choosing an optimal lineup for the World Cup opener, following lacklustre performances in two crucial Asia Cup matches last month.

While the Netherlands are considered a minnow team — they rank 14th in the ICC ODI rankings — Pakistan must not take any team lightly.

Pakistan’s back-to-back losses in the regional tournament against India and Sri Lanka, attributed to insufficient run-scoring, have raised concerns about their performance under Babar Azam’s captaincy in yet another tournament.

Historically, Indian grounds have been known for favouring high-scoring matches with their shorter boundaries, promising an advantage to batters in the World Cup.

However, is there a genuine issue with our batting lineup, or are these recent underperformances merely attributed to “just two bad” games, as the skipper mentioned in his press conference prior to the team’s departure to India?

With the absence of our top-tier pacer, Naseem Shah, and a notable vacuum in our spin resources, let’s explore how we can assemble our batting lineup.

The opening pair of Fakhar Zaman and Imamul Haq — which can be changed under the team plan — has faced increased criticism as the duo’s average was 16.25 and 30.66, respectively in last month’s Asia Cup.

The pair was highly praised when all three batters from the Green Team’s top order were among the top five batters in the world with the skipper leading the charts, which he is still leading.

Zaman does have the ability to take the game away from the opponents if he gets going. However, his position in the lineup is contested as the southpaw has failed to score runs in tournaments.

Imam, who is currently ranked sixth in the ICC men’s ranking for batters in the ODI, has to score big as the left-handed batter has struggled to perform in high-pressure games. Criticised for his slow style, Imam would have to up his scoring rate if Pakistan were to put up an above-par score in the competition.

The skipper, who will be coming down at three, has failed to live up to the expectations as Babar has not scored significantly in the last three tournaments that the Green Shirts have played.

Babar’s average in the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup last year was 11.33 and 17.71, respectively.

He scored 207 runs in the four innings he played in the Asia Cup last month, however, 151 out of those were scored in the first match of the tournament against Nepal.

Wicketkeeper batter, Mohammad Rizwan, is Pakistan’s choice at four, a position that the 31-year-old wanted.

Rizwan’s average drops if he is sent further down the order with the wicketkeeper’s best performance coming when he plays at four. Rizwan has scored two centuries and eight half-centuries averaging 44.16 while playing at the number four spot.

Pakistan plays with two batting all-rounders who operate as part-time off-spinners, Salman Ali Agha and Iftikhar Ahmed, both filling the fifth and sixth spots. The pair are short on experience in the ODI format with Salman and Iftikhar playing 16 innings each for Pakistan.

While also being handy with the ball, the pair can accelerate during the latter part of the innings if it were to be set up for them by the top order and they can also hold down one end of the wicket if needed.

The two bowling all-rounders, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, did not perform well at the Asia Cup as the duo struggled to get wickets in the middle overs for Pakistan — a problem which has become so obvious that Babar had to address it in his press conference — but the pair provides much-needed relief lower down the order.

These eight players complete Pakistan’s batting options, however, one would not count out Hassan Ali or Shaheen Afridi’s ability to smash the ball outside the park.

Haris Rauf completes the 11 for the Pakistan side but what changes could we expect to see over the course of the World Cup?

Pakistan has the option of rotating the openers with Abdullah Shafique on the bench.

Abdullah has played 14 Test matches for Pakistan averaging over 50 in the format. The opener has been underused in ODIs but there are no doubts regarding the youngster’s abilities. Abdullah, with his stylish stroke play, and technically sound stance begs the question of why has the opener only played four times.

The highly appraised number four position, which Pakistan currently trusts Mohammad Rizwan with, is also a contested choice as Saud Shakeel has started fighting for a spot on the team.

Saud, another find of the Test side, is yet to consistently start for the ODI team.

Saud, who will play as a batter only, is tailor-made to play two-down in the side as he possesses the ability to hold down the wicket and is an excellent player of spin.

This would mean Rizwan, who cannot be replaced as the batter also plays as a first-choice wicketkeeper, would have to play further down the batting order as Saud would come in to play in place of Iftikhar or Agha Salman, Salman being the obvious replacement as Iftikhar packs tonnes of cricketing experience.

Mohammad Wasim, who is yet to prove his ability with the bat, has played 16 matches and taken 24 wickets with an average of 26.7. The pacer would look to replicate his List A batting average, a format where he has scored a half-century as well.

Usama is a specialist leg-spinner, we hope he turns out to be useful with the bat.

The World Cup opener against the Netherlands will test whether Pakistan’s batter-heavy lineup can deliver the victory they seek.