For the first time in three World Cup campaigns, Pakistan enters with a fresh-looking squad. Disastrous first-round exits in 2003 and 2007 were compounded by the absence of new faces, with the team reliant instead on jaded stars. But for the 2011 World Cup, seven out of Pakistan's 15-man squad have not played more than 35 ODIs, and for eight, this will be a first World Cup. It is the kind of unknown they thrive on, the kind captain Shahid Afridi feels makes them "the most dangerous team at the World Cup."
Afridi's optimism is based on more than just the newness of his squad. Since the end of the Australia tour last year, Pakistan's ODI cricket has taken on the kind of swing that has marked their finest years: days of a complete, comprehensive ineptitude mixed casually with moments of such force they cannot be stopped.
They've lost more than they've won since the Australia tour - 10 losses, 8 wins - but they've pushed good teams to the very brink, usually in direst off-field circumstances. And the immediate run-in was much needed: a first ODI bilateral series win in over two years. "For some time now we've been trying to give the team an identity, a face on the field," Afridi told ESPNcricinfo before heading off to Dhaka.
"It's coming along. We've got some good young players in the set-up now, guys like Umar [Akmal], [Ahmed] Shehzad, Wahab [Riaz] mixed with some experienced guys. I see us as the most dangerous team at the World Cup." A number of the older heads have not played in World Cups before: Misbah-ul-Haq, the vice-captain, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman.
The balance of a potential first XI, Afridi says, is right. Two of their openers have scored centuries in recent games and a third, dangerous option is back. The middle order has patience and power, old and young and the bowling spin and pace. "We've got options and I like that. We have batsmen like Younis [Khan] and Misbah who can play long innings, guys in the middle who are power-hitters. We have wicket-taking bowlers so I'm happy that we have a balanced side."
Though he has captained the ODI side through the last year, Afridi was only appointed leader for the World Cup last week, having led the side to the series win in New Zealand. He has said previously that not getting the captaincy wouldn't affect him, but criticism of his individual form - as there has been by some former players recently - has clearly irked him.
"There is uneducated criticism of my performances from former players on TV," he said. "They should know that over the last year [in 2010] I have scored the most runs and taken the most wickets for Pakistan."
Behind those numbers - he was 2010's leading Pakistani run-scorer and joint leading wicket-taker with Shoaib Akhtar - is a more complicated story. His batting has held more substance - two hundreds and nine scores between 24 and 65 in 18 innings - are important numbers. But the bowling has lacked the wicket-taking bite of the last couple of years, averaging 45.05 per wicket and taking less than a wicket per game.
Yet the pressure of leading in the field hasn't, he says, affected him. "The pressure is there as captain for sure, to keep everyone up on the field, to get everything going, to get the field right and to do well yourself but I enjoy that. You have good and bad days but I'm confident my bowling is fine at the moment."
Afridi's own World Cup record is poor. In 12 games, spread over three tournaments, he averages 11.36 with the bat and 39.85 with the ball, an aberration he is keen to rectify. "I've not been good at past World Cups, but my role and position has never been fully settled going into them. I go into this feeling better and much more positive and, importantly, my role and place is clearer than it has been in past tournaments. There are good times and bad times but I'm hoping this will be a good World Cup for us.
"Realistically, with the kind of team we have, we should really make the semi-final and of course we want to play the final and win it - everyone does - but we should make the semi."
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