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Most cricket experts had written off Pakistan, after the test series loss to Zimbabwe. The team was in total disarray and the captain seemed utterly helpless. Even the most passionate of Pakistani cricket fans did not back their team to win the World Cup. But in the two months Wasim Akram has spent at the helm of affairs, everything seems to have changed. Cricket experts are naming Pakistan joint favourites with Australia and South Africa to win the World Cup in England.

If Sri Lanka tour of Australia in late 1995 triggered their ascent to the top of one-day international cricket, Pakistan's recent tour to India promises to do the same. Had Pakistan lost badly in India, it would have been a great blow to cricket in this country. Match fixing allegations would have shot out of control, leaving several players in search of other professions. Thankfully, Pakistan cricket has weathered the storm and the players have assembled as a very talented professional team, now capable of destroying any side in the World.

The Pakistani side did well in Sharjah and won the trophy. There are some people who think that Pakistan may have peaked too soon before the World Cup. Pakistanis have been very unpredictable in the past and often find themselves in bottomless pits after scaling mountains. However, their performance during the last six weeks suggests that the unpredictability may be diminishing. The team does not seem to be depend on a couple of individuals to win them every match, as was the case in the past. If the top order fails, the middle order delivers and if the middle order is dismissed cheaply, the lower order comes to the rescue.

Similarly, the bowling line-up has done exceedingly well without any significant contributions from Wasim Akram except their final in Sharjah. Shoaib Akhtar is a blessing for Pakistan cricket and will definitely be remembered as one of the greatest fast bowlers, especially if his captain keeps giving him advice from mid-off. One got an idea of Shoaib's pace when his slower delivery was clocked a couple of miles faster than Venkatesh Prasad normal one, but the great thing about him is his control. If he can bamboozle Indian stroke players on the docile Sharjah wicket, then he will be a handful for batsmen in the World Cup.

Pakistan's batting in the World Cup will depend heavily on the lower order. The ball will play tricks on the seaming English wickets in May and June. It is very important for Pakistan to change their strategy and go back to the tactics that proved successful in the 1992 World Cup. Going over the top to score at 6 runs per over may be the right idea in the Sub-Continent but will hardly work in England.

Pakistanis will have to play out the new ball and preserve wickets, otherwise they might expose the middle order to the new ball; which has led to our downfall so many times in the past. With wickets in hand they can always score 100 runs in the last fifteen overs.

In line with this strategy, Pakistan should open with Wajahatullah Wasti and Saeed Anwar, with Shahid Afridi coming down the order to take on the spinners. If the team is chasing a huge total (which is unlikely given the strength of our bowling attack), then Afridi can open the innings. Whatever strategy the Pakistani think tank, with Miandad and Akram, may devise, and provided the players stick to their task, Pakistan has a good chance of winning the World Cup.

The cricket management must be delighted with the way Ijaz Ahmad and Inzamam-ul-Haq have been batting of late. Inzamam, in particular has shown glimpses of the form he displayed in the semi-final and final of the 1992 World Cup. Both batsmen have the valuable experience of playing in English conditions. If they do their job in the middle overs of the Pakistani innings, we have three powerful strikers of the ball in Wasim Akram, Moin Khan and Azhar Mahmood to push up the run rate at the end of an innings.

Like his mentor Imran Khan, Akram has also started taking his batting more seriously after assuming the captaincy of the national team. To command the respect of the rest of the players in the Pakistan side you have to perform consistently and be the best player in the team. Wasim knows that he has to score runs apart from taking wickets to command the respect of the batsmen. His vast experience in county cricket will also come in handy for the team.

However, the man who possibly holds the key for Pakistan in the World Cup is Azhar Mahmood. By realising his all-round potential. Azhar will provide the balance to the Pakistan side. His batting ability is underlined with three test centuries against the South Africans and now that he has started bowling well, Pakistan can go in a match with only three regular bowlers, to beef up the batting line-up. Azhar has seamed the ball on the placid Indian tracks, where most other bowlers have struggled. On the seaming English tracks, he will definitely be a wicket-taking bowler.

Pakistan is such a talented side, that the players just have to keep their wits about them to do well. Cricket is all about having the confidence and belief in your own abilities. At the moment, there is an abundance of that in the Pakistan cricket team.