Pakistan cricket has seen a number of highs and lows in the last decade. From the spot-fixing scandal to making it to the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011, adopting UAE as our home and making it a Test fortress ultimately helping the team clinch the ICC Test mace, winning the Champions Trophy to ruling the T20I team rankings, it’s been a roller-coaster of a ride for cricket lovers in the country.
Not just this, Pakistan has finally found a batting superstar in the form of Babar Azam and along the way, the Green Shirts have registered a number of records in different formats of the game.
Without further ado, let’s have a look at our format-wise teams of the decade:
It has been a turbulent decade in terms of Test cricket for Pakistan. It started with the horrendous spot-fixing scandal, resulting in Misbah-ul-Haq taking over the reins of the team and ultimately winning and losing the most number test matches in the country’s history.
Winning the Test mace after equalling the England series 2-2, scoring the joint-fastest century in 55 balls and defeating West Indies away from home for the first time in history were some of the highlights of both Misbah’s and Pakistan’s decade. After the MisYou era, it was a downward ride for the team as Pakistan slipped to number 7 in the rankings.
There were some very good performances from the Pakistani players throughout the decade and based on numbers, we have compiled our Test team of the past 10 years.
The Champions Trophy triumph under the dynamic captaincy of Sarfaraz Ahmed in 2017 was the only major ICC trophy for Pakistan in this decade. The final against arch-rivals India, which Pakistan won by a huge margin of 180 runs, will always remain fresh in our memories.
Earlier in the decade, Pakistan made it to the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, where Shahid Afridi’s men fell to India in the semi-final after a controversial review for Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket and some sloppy batting from the batsmen.
Wahab Riaz’s fiery spell against Shane Watson in the next World Cup kept us all pumped up, however, a dropped catch off his bowling after a poor batting display got Pakistan kicked out of the tournament in the quarter-final.
Let’s have a look at how ProPakistani’s ODI team of the decade stacks up:
Pakistan has ended the decade on a slightly low note after suffering a whitewash at the hands of Sri Lanka at home. While the Men in Green may have retained the top spot in ICC T20I rankings, 2019 was a poor year for the team which managed to win only 1 match out of 10.
Babar Azam’s prolific run has continued in the last part of the decade, helping him finish as the top-ranked T20I batsman. He was the standout performer for Pakistan and hopefully, the fans will see more of his brilliance not only with the bat but also as a captain of the team.
Here’s our T20I team of the decade:
What are your thoughts on the teams of the decade? Let us know in the comments section.