'Will get thrashed badly': Ex-Pakistan player slams Babar Azam & Co. ahead of CWC 2023

Babar Azam led Pakistan cricket team was knocked out of the Asia Cup 2023 following their two-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in their last Super 4s match of the tournament. Babar failed to perform as per his reputation and only scored 207 runs from five games. The number one ODI batter failed to score runs against quality bowling attacks like India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and scored a century against an inexperienced bowling line up Nepal. 

3 things you need to know

• Babar Azam was dismissed for 10 and 29 runs against India and Nepal in the 2023 Asia Cup 
• Pakistan will face Netherlands in their opening match of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023
• Babar Azam doesn't have a very good record in the ICC ODI World Cup 

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Kamran Akmal's huge warning to Babar Azam ahead of the ODI World Cup 

Amidst Babar Azam's poor form in ODI cricket, former Pakistan cricket team wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal has given a huge warning to the Babar Azam-led side. While speaking on his YouTube channel Kamran Akmal said: 

Mohammed Shami is on the bench, he doesn't play in this XI. That shows you it's a complete bowling unit. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma are in form, Shubman Gill scored a century recently, so it looks a solid batting unit. I'll just say that for the match we have on October 14, Pakistan team need to plan really well to put them under pressure. If they play with the same mentality as the Asia Cup, and the way we played for the past three years, they're going to get thrashed badly. They need to prepare really well.

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What are Pakistan's chances of winning the ODI World Cup 2023? 

The Pakistan cricket team received a brutal reality check in their disappointing Asia Cup 2023 campaign. Pakistan was thrashed by 228 runs against India in their second Super 4s match and also was not able to make it to the finals of the tournament. Also, ahead of the tournament, the team faced a major blow in the form of an injury to their main pace bowler Naseem Shah. Pakistan's lead pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi also went for a lot of runs during the 2023 Asia Cup, which clearly tells that the 'Men in Green' will have a tough time in the ODI World Cup.