The drama – the threat to boycott the World Cup, the visa concerns, the contract disputes and the early love-hate greetings – is over. Or at least, you would hope. The Pakistan cricket team is in India after seven years, and it’s cricket time now.

Pakistan may not have a timeframe for when a democratically elected government will take charge of the country or for how long the current dispensation of the cricket board will continue to run the affairs of the game, but they have a team that promises to bring back the glory of 1992.

That’s the message Babar Azam had sent while leaving from Pakistan. “Top 4 is a small goal for us, we want to come out as winners.”

The chaotic state of affairs of the country and the board notwithstanding, the cricket team led by Babar has slowly built itself into a fearsome pack, especially in limited overs. Led by their highly skilled pace attack, they clawed their way to the top of the ODI rankings a few weeks earlier. Such was the consistency they brought to their game over the last few months that they dared to announce their XI a day ahead of the games, even in a competition as big as the Asia Cup.

The interesting bit was that the XIs that they were naming in the opening half of the tournament weren’t even surprising. It had variety, depth and intimidation. But then, one gloomy afternoon in Colombo when Shubman Gill successfully counter-attacked Shaheen Afridi, they crumbled. A brief passage of play and its immediate aftermath which included injuries, crushed them more than it should have, and they found getting up from the defeat harder than a one-poor-game exception should have left them at.

The lack of experience in Indian conditions could cause some teething issues, one that they would hope to solve in the week ahead of the tournament through their training and warm-up games. With players from other teams touring India far more frequently on national duty or to play in the IPL, the gulf in experience of the conditions is massive. Even a team like Netherlands which doesn’t have any IPL players in its rank currently, has had the luxury of holding multiple training camps over the last couple of months in India.

That gulf was evident in Pakistan’s opening warm-up game. The ease with which New Zealand managed to chase down the 345-run total would leave them slightly unsettled in their current blueprint, and even call for a different approach to their batting. It could maybe require slight tinkering to the line-up and the style that was preferred on the more challenging tracks at the Asia Cup.

The conditions may push Pakistan to play the Pakistan Way, but are they courageous enough to accept it in such a high-stakes tournament?

Mohammad Rizwan’s form is a much-needed booster for a batting line-up that is too heavily reliant on Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq at the moment for big runs.

The concerns though are plenty.

The spin department hasn’t been penetrative enough and would need to up their game in the middle overs to ensure that the burden doesn’t lie too heavily on the pacers. The injury to Naseem Shah has left a question of who will partner Shaheen with the new ball, one that neither Mohammad Wasim Jr. nor Hasan Ali has answered convincingly as yet. Moreover, on the batting front, Fakhar Zaman is desperately needed but is also desperately out of form.

It’s 2023, and if the recently concluded Asia Cup is any indicator, it’s still difficult to predict which Pakistan team will turn up on a given day. Too cliched, too lazy and too easy to push the ‘unpredictables’ tag, but the harder strain doesn’t give a different result either.

Squad: Abdullah Shafique, Imam ul Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf

Probable XI: Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Agha Salman/Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr/Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf

Tactics: Pakistan would be heavily reliant on Shaheen Afridi to get the early breakthroughs. A master at picking up wickets in the first overs, much would depend on Shaheen, especially in the absence of his new-ball partner Naseem Shah. Gill’s early assault against the left-arm pacer recently exposed how easily the balance can tilt in the opposition’s favour if the pacer has an off-day or even an an expensive and unrewarding spell. Other teams could be tempted to replicate that aggression against him.

The focus would also be on improving the productivity of the spinners through the middle overs. None of the three frontline options in the current squad has been able to keep the scoring rate in check or pick up ample wickets in the recent past.

Keep an eye on: Mohammad Rizwan

The Pakistani wicketkeeper-batter has underperformed in the 50-over format for most parts of his career – averaging in the mid 30s and at a strike rate of less than 90. However, he is coming into the World Cup in good form. In the last three ODI games, he has stroked two unbeaten half-centuries and followed it up with a ton against New Zealand in the warm up game before retiring out. With heavy runs flowing from his bat, it eases the burden on Babar and Imam, who have done the bulk of the scoring over the last few years. The batting friendly pitches in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata should be more good news for him on a personal front, but as the warm up contest showed, there would be a need to pick up on the scoring rate through the middle overs.

Marquee Match: India vs Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. It’s not just the big contest for them. Unless the two teams end up meeting again in the final, it could be the biggest of the tournament for the ICC, for the broadcasters, for the fans. The 1 lakh capacity stadium is expected to be full. The hotels in the city already are. Given the way Pakistan can tend to fall and rise, quite early in the tournament, the happenings of the contest on October 14 could dictate the morale of the team for the rest of the league stage.

Hasan Ali may not know whether he’ll make it to the XI or not as yet, but he knows one thing for sure, “We’ve heard several times from our former players: if you do well in India, you will become a hero.”

And of all the matches, it will be the Ahmedabad clash where the biggest hero of them will emerge.

Banana Peel: Pakistan may have gotten away narrowly against Afghanistan several times, but their Asian neighbours could pose them a threat yet again. Slated to play in Chennai, where the pitch would be expected to aid spinners, the balance should be tilted in Afghanistan’s favour. Not only do they boast of a high-quality attack – Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Qais Ahmed – but also that Pakistan’s spinners haven’t been able to make an impact in big games recently. Their batters are also susceptible against high quality spin, one which Afghanistan would be hoping to exploit.