ODI World Cup 2023: Predicting Pakistan’s Playing XI for their clash against South Africa

The 26th match of the ongoing World Cup in India will feature a showdown between Pakistan and South Africa. The contest is set to be held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Notably, this is South Africa’s first match at this venue in the current World Cup, while Pakistan faced a defeat against Afghanistan at the same location earlier this week.

Pakistan is currently in a slump, having suffered losses to India, Australia, and Afghanistan in their last three matches. Their victories have come against teams that were part of the qualifiers, namely Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. With three losses in five matches, Pakistan’s maximum achievable points now stand at 12, leaving them with no choice but to win all their remaining matches.

Pakistan holds a significant advantage having already played at this venue, where spin is expected to play a crucial role once again. On the other hand, South Africa has recently played a couple of matches at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. They managed to pull off a stunning victory against England in their most recent outing and are on the verge of securing a spot in the semifinals. However, the Proteas can be unpredictable, as evidenced by their underwhelming performance in a 246-run chase.

Predicting Pakistan’s Playing XI for the ODI World Cup 2023:

Top Order

In the top order for the Pakistan team, the openers will be Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique. Both the openers have had a hot and cold kind of tournament so far. A lot would be banking on both the openers to give the Pakistan team a formidable start. Shafique would be hoping to convert the start that the right-hand batter got throughout the innings. In addition to it, the number three spot will be occupied by skipper Babar Azam, who will be under a lot of pressure coming into the tournament. Babar is having a poor outing in the World  Cup both as a captain as well as a batter.

Middle Order

The number four position will be occupied by the wicketkeeper batter, Mohammad Rizwan who has been in prime form in the upcoming World Cup 2023. Furthermore, the number five position will be bagged by Saud Shakeel who is undisputedly the best player against the spin in the Pakistan team. The left-hand batter has shown glimpses of betterment but did not have the runs in the tournament. The number six position will be taken by Iftikhar Ahmad who is the designated slogger in the team. Throughout the World Cup, Iftikhar has been a great knick.

All-rounders and bowlers

The number seven position will be taken by Shadab Khan as well and the eight spots will be taken by Usama Mir. Both the wrist spinners have not been in form throughout the World Cup as they are failing to pick wickets in the middle overs. Both the spinners are also handy with bat in hand. The numbers nine, ten, and eleven will be taken by Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, and Haris Rauf.

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