At the Westpac Stadium in Wellington last Friday, New Zealand showed why they are being touted as favourites to win their first ever World Cup title. First, it was pacer Tim Southee who squeezed the life out of England’s innings with 7-33, the third best figures in World Cup history. Southee was the reason why England crashed to 123 in 33.2 overs.

And then Brendon McCullum squashed whatever pride that was left among the England ranks with a ruthless display of power hitting. McCullum’s 77 off 25 balls that included eight fours and seven sixers wasn’t actually a match-winning knock considering the fact that New Zealand’s strong batting line-up would have cruised to the small victory target even without his help. But it was a highly significant innings. It was a statement from New Zealand and their skipper that the Black Caps were no more one of the also-rans in international cricket. It was a statement that the co-hosts of the World Cup meant business and that they were good enough to go all the way. Only Australia have dominated opponents in the past like the way New Zealand towered over hapless England.

And the biggest reason why the Kiwis have catapulted themselves to a position where they can emulate their trans-Tasman rivals is big-hitters like Brendon McCullum.

Players like McCullum are game-changers. They can lift their team out of trouble within a span of a few overs. That’s the sort of quality that a team needs to win matches, especially against quality oppositions and in high-intensity events like the World Cup.

Just take a look at the teams that are regarded as serious contenders for the title at World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand. The Kiwis have McCullum, Australia have Glenn Maxwell, South Africa have AB de Villiers. The trio are at the top of the ladder and seem sure to make their way to the last four. Even lower-ranked and little fancied teams like West Indies have a master-blaster in Chris Gayle.

One of the more important ingredients in a winning ODI unit in today’s cricket is a pinch-hitter with some sort of consistency. Pakistan unfortunately doesn’t have one in their World Cup squad.

To be fair, Pakistan have had their share of game-changing big-hitters. Back in 1992, they had Inzamam-ul-Haq. Later there were all-rounders like Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq, who would change the complexion of a game with clean hitting in the death overs.

Razzaq is long gone but Afridi is still part of the line-up. He is still a big-hitter but match-winning knocks from the former Pakistan captain have become few and far between.

In the last two World Cups, Pakistan were unable to match teams like Australia and India because their power-hitters seldom delivered. And unless things change, they are unlikely to go all the way unless the likes of Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood and of course Afridi stand up and deliver. The quartet have the guts to excel. All of them are quality stroke-makers with a knack for scoring fours and sixers. But just having the required skills is not enough. When it comes to skills, I don’t consider McCullum to be a better batsman than, say, Ahmed Shehzad. But McCullum plays with a big heart and is willing to play brave shots at the very top of the order regardless of the conditions or the quality of bowlers tackling him. He never gets intimidated and that’s what a big-hitting opener needs to dominate bowlers.

Shehzad used to be a bit like McCullum. He had the flair and arrogance matched by necessary talent and confidence. But the youngster seems to have lost some of that oomph that made him Pakistan’s first-choice opener in limited-overs cricket. Maybe it’s something to do with a minor skull fracture that he sustained after getting hit by a Corey Anderson bouncer in the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi last November. Previously, Shehzad will just go all out and play his shots. But now he hesitates and plays too many dot balls.

Umar Akmal, too, has failed to really deliver after making a very promising international debut back in 2009. He can hit the cricket ball hard but struggles to find the gaps every now and then.

When he first shot to fame with a couple of fine knocks, Sohaib Maqsood was quickly hailed as Pakistan’s new Inzi. The comparisons didn’t seem off the mark considering that Sohaib did remind us of Inzi with his batting style, his built and the fact that like the former Pakistan captain he also hailed from the City of Saints -- Multan. But the way Sohaib  flopped in the big game against India last Sunday it became clear that all those comparisons with Inzi were premature.

Millions of Afridi fans were sure that Lala will floor the Indians the way he did last year in the Asia Cup where he hit two last-over sixers off R Ashwin to win a high-voltage game for Pakistan.

But Lala didn’t and the reason is that Afridi is no more a young daredevil who would just flay any bowler with his big-hitting prowess. His reflexes have slowed and to expect him to play match-winning knocks consistently is like expecting a bit too much.

That said, I would still say that all’s not lost for Pakistan. I wrote this piece more than 24 hours before Pakistan’s crucial pool B game against the West Indies in Christchurch on Saturday and maybe at least one of the four big-hitters might have proved me wrong. I hope they did. But doing well in a game or two won’t take Pakistan to the finish line in a triumphant manner. Our players, especially the big guns, will need to fire. They will have to fire both rapidly and regularly. That’s the only way we can progress to the quarter-finals.

Once we do that, the real battle will begin. The way we are playing, I fear that if we qualify, Pakistan will most likely be facing one of the two co-hosts Australia or New Zealand in the last eight. That’s because Pakistan are likely to finish either as B3 or B4 behind South Africa and India while Australia and New Zealand should finish as the top two sides in Pool A (A1 and A2). To counter the firepower that a team like Australia or New Zealand can unleash, Pakistan will need a lethal, aggressive display both with the bat and ball. Their players will need to perform like Southee and McCullum.

Can they do it? Only time will tell.