‘Predictable Losers’ seem the right word for Pakistan team as they have been on a long losing streak. If getting whitewashed by Australia and then England wasn’t enough, they also lost to Afghanistan in a warm-up game and the World Cup opener against West Indies as well.

But the optimistic Pakistani fans including myself were still hopeful that they would put up a fight and do well than their recent performances. The thing with Pakistani fans is that we overrate our team and expect them to overperform.

That tends to happen especially on a stage like the ‘World Cup’. The emotions get the better of the realistic situation.

But the fact is: We’re a poor team at the moment.

Our batting approach is 10 years behind. Bowling – our main weapon is not clicking. And now we have to face the favorites England who are itching to blast Pakistan.

Is there any hope for the Green Shirts?

Well, Pakistan has lost 11 consecutive ODI matches. So now if we win one, it won’t be a miracle.

A real miracle would be if we manage to win 5 games out of 9 games. Then you may call it ‘Unpredictable Pakistan’.

But at the moment, they are nothing but ‘Predictable Losers’.

It will be interesting how Pakistan face up to the challenge of short-pitch bowling as they were bombarded by it in the game against West Indies.

And England has two quicks – Mark Wood and Jofra Archer. Pakistan will be tested for sure. How they deal with it remains to be seen.

Fakhar Zaman would be the key player for Pakistan. He is the only one in the top order whose strike-rate is impressive. The rest can support them but they are heavily depended on him.

In the bowling department, Hasan Ali is going through a slump. He needs to come good tomorrow and the rest of the bowlers too.

If Amir can knock out 2-3 wickets upfront, nothing better.

Here’s hoping Pakistan wins tomorrow!