The 2022 edition of the Asia Cup is slated to take place in the United Arab Emirates from August 27 to September 11. The multi-nation tournament, featuring six teams, will be played in a T20I format this year.
Two days ahead of the marquee event, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has pointed out one major weakness in Pakistan’s squad. According to Chopra, the Babar Azam-led side doesn’t have a wicket-taking spinner which might hurt them.
While teams like India and Afghanistan have Yuzvendra Chahal and Rashid Khan in their ranks, Pakistan have picked three premier spinners – Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, and Usman Qadir.
"Firstly, they don't have a wicket-taking spinner. They have a lot of spin options, but who will pick up wickets? All of them are restrictive. You can see Shadab Khan, he did well in the PSL, but if you see the recent international numbers, he has not taken wickets even in ODIs. He is not your wicket-taker, he is not Yuzi Chahal or Rashid Khan."
"Usman Qadir can pick up wickets, but he is too young. He has played very little cricket as well. Nawaz is also the same story-bowls restrictively. The Dubai pitch generally does not turn that much, but sometimes you need bowlers who can come and pick up wickets in the middle overs. I don't think they have too many of those, to be very honest," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Furthermore, Pakistan’s pace department is also lacking experience, with left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi being ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury.
"The second thing I am seeing is the lack of experience in the pace department. They have a lot of pacers. Naseem Shah, who started playing ODI cricket recently-five wickets and all of that, but how much international T20 cricket has he played-nothing," Chopra stated.
"Shahnawaz Dahani-he does extremely well in the PSL, but how much international cricket has he played? The same is the case with Hasnain. They do have experience in the form of Haris Rauf, but they are going to miss Shaheen Afridi a lot because they hugely lack experience in fast bowling," he further remarked.
Pakistan squad for Asia Cup 2022:
Babar Azam (Captain), Shadab Khan (Vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir.
