KARACHI: After Islamabad United won their third HBL Pakistan Super League title in the early hours of Tuesday, wrapping up the ninth edition of the country’s T20 extravaganza, focus immediately shifted to the national side and the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Performances have thrown up a number of questions and a lot of thinking for the Pakistan Cricket Board to do in order to select a str­o­ng side for the tournament slated to be held in the United States and the West Indies from June.

The Pakistan dressing room was effectively disintegrated following the dismal ouster from the 50-over World Cup in India last year.

Their 3-0 Test drubbing by Australia after that and a 4-1 T20 series loss against New Zealand under new captains Shan Masood and Shaheen Shah Afridi, respectively, made things worse.

As per recent reports in the media, Shaheen is contemplating stepping down as the Pakistan T20 skipper. And that may well lead to the PCB — under the leadership of newly-appointed chairman Mohsin Naqvi — starting from scratch to build a new-look Pakistan side for the T20 World Cup.

But before that, the board needs to appoint a selection committee, which stood dissolved after Zaka Ashraf stepped down as the chairman of the PCB’s interim Mana­gement Committee ahead of Mohsin’s arrival.

“I will not be picking the captain; the selection committee will be appointing captain,” Mohsin told reporters in a press conference during the PSL final. “I might be making some changes in that committee, but I believe that the selection committee should be empowered enough to be able to take these important decisions.

“The credit and blame will then lie with the committee, along with the coach and captain. Since they are responsible to bring results, they will be making decisions.”

Zaka had dismissed Pakistan’s coaching staff after the World Cup in India, replacing it with one led by former Pakistan skipper Moh­ammad Hafeez, who too was shown the door by Mohsin last month.

Therefore, the PCB is now looking for a coach for the national side and has been unsuccessful in negotiations with one of the prospects, former Austr­alian all-rounder Shane Watson, so far. Mohsin, who has arranged a training camp for the Pakistan team at the country’s military academy in Kakul later this month, said the PCB was looking to appoint a coach before that.

“We are trying to finalise the coaching staff at our earliest,” said Mohsin. “I will not go into details, but there is a lot of backend work being done to search and finalise the staff, as the players are scheduled to leave for Kakul soon as well.

“We will try to hire the best we can find. I will not be taking any names, as all the discussions are in preliminary stages. We will anno­unce the coaching staff as soon as it is locked,” added the PCB chief.

Other than the few Pakistan mainstays, a number of players have emerged as contenders for that plane to Dallas that Pakistan will take to start their T20 World Cup journey against co-hosts United States.

The list is topped by retired all-rounder Imad Wasim, who gave three match-winning performances on the trot for United both with the bat and the ball – he took a five-wicket haul in the final.

The talk of Imad coming out of retirement is ripe and even Islamabad captain and Pakis­tan’s star all-rounder Shadab Khan has openly wished for the all-rounder to make a comeback ahead of the World Cup.

“It’s for Maddy Bhai to decide if he wants to come out of retirement or not,” Shadab said in the post-final press conference. “But I’m sure if someone talks to him about it, he may consider doing so.

“It’s the World Cup season and I believe the best players and the ones in form should be in the Pakistan team.”

Imad, remained coy about making an international comeback, but the 35-year-old said he feels he has a few years of cricket left in him.

“I wasn’t feeling it will be my best event tournament but wanted to make an impact but glad it went so well for me,” Imad said after the final. “I think I’m happy playing cricket, I’m fit and trying to contribute as much as possible. I’ve four-five years of cricket left in me.”

Saim Ayub is another name who can boost Pakistan’s potential all-round battery in the T20 extravaganza, with the opener having emerged as a weapon with his mystery-spin capabilities with the ball for Peshawar Zalmi.

The side’s captain Babar Azam — formerly Pakistan’s all-format skipper who continues to be Pakistan’s batting mainstay — used Saim to attack with the new ball in the powerplay on several occasions and the right-armer returned dividends most of the times.

Babar shone as an opener in the PSL, ending up as the highest-run scorer with more than 500 runs this season. His show at the top of the order came after he was dropped to the one-down position for Pakistan in the New Zealand series.

The right-hander has also openly expressed his personal desire to play as an opener only, revealing last week that he played at one-down “for Pakistan”, and not because he wished to.

Islamabad United wicket-keeper Azam Khan will be in contention once again, having been awarded the wicket-keeper of the tournament prize to add up to his potential as a destructive batter at number six and to give competition to Mohammad Rizwan behind the wickets.

Rizwan, the captain of losing finalists Multan Sultans, wasn’t satisfied with his performances, despite being the third-highest scorer, and with Saim in the fray for the opener’s slot alongside Babar for the national team, said he was willing to go down the order.

“I’m not quite satisfied with my batting,” he said at the presentation ceremony, “I’m always available for Pakistan to bat any position.”

Pakistan’s build-up to the T20 World Cup commences with yet another series against New Zealand, this time at home, as they face the Kiwis for five T20I matches in Rawalpindi and Lahore from April 18.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024