T20 World Cup: Pakistan will be world beaters if they are more consistent

Why is it that Pakistan always blow hot and cold as a cricket team? Why are they brilliant one day and mediocre the next?

I wish I could answer that question. I wish Pakistan could answer that question. Because they have been historically known to blow hot and cold, more cold than hot.

But on their day, they are capable of beating any team in the world.

And on Thursday, against a strong South African team, they showed tremendous fighting spirit.

Thursday was a make-or-break game for them. And they played like New Zealand, they played for each other. They fought for one another, and they played as a unit.

When they play like that, they are such a formidable team. And that's what I like about Pakistan. They should able to play like this consistently.

Their performance was shocking only a few days ago against Zimbabwe and they were not so convincing against the Netherlands either.

But on Thursday, against the strongest opponents, they worked hard. Obviously, they worked on the weaknesses, and concentrated on the strengths and had belief in their ability.

I think these are the three things that worked for them and these things will work for them always if they continue to play as a team.

It will work for them because these are the three things for success, the recipe for success.

Now they still have to depend on the Netherlands beating South Africa and India losing to Zimbabwe. It's a very sad situation for a talented team like Pakistan.

But it’s their own doing, they can’t blame anyone else for their situation.

So, Pakistan will be hugely disappointed with their performance against Zimbabwe. They played great cricket against India, but luck didn’t go their way in that game.

And I still believe Babar Azam is the right man to lead them going ahead. He is a world-class player and it was not long ago that he was the world’s No.1 batsman. Yes, he is not having the best of tournaments, but you can’t become a bad player overnight.

In Mohammad Rizwan, Babar has got a fine deputy and they make a formidable combination as openers.

With a fantastic group of bowlers and some good all-rounders like Shadab Khan, who was magnificent against South Africa, Pakistan have what it takes to become world beaters.

But they have to be able to find a way to play like they did against South Africa on a more consistent basis.

Farokh Engineer is a former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman who played 46 Test matches from 1961 to 1975

• Australia
• Pakistan