Comment: Weather permitting, T20 greatness is in Babar's grasp.

Babar Azam stands on the threshold of history. When he looks across the Melbourne Cricket GroAund, one of the world's greatest spoArting arenas; when he hears the roar of 90,000 fans; and when he absorbs the atmosphere of a World Cup final, Pakistan's captain will carry the hopes and dreams of a global diaspora of hundreds of millions - and every other England opponent.

Another Pakistan captain felt that very moment thirty years ago. Pakistan were an aspiring side, hungry for a first title to confirm their undoubted class in 50-overs cricket.

They had lost their wunderkind Waqar Younis to injury before the tournament started. Had Waqar, then in his absolute prime, been fit, Pakistan might have swept through the tournament like a wildfire, a wildfire of Two Ws that no force on Earth could extinguish.

Instead, Imran Khan, in his last campaign, had refashioned his team to muddle through with part time bowlers to support his match winner, Wasim Akram, and to find just enough batting to add to the dependable runs of Javed Miandad.

In pictures: Against all odds, Pakistan lifted the World Cup trophy in 1992. Will history repeat itself?

The team still had legs but this was the end of Imran's cricketing journey, mission accomplished, a world title delivered to his country as promised. The next era would have its own dramas under Javed and then Wasim. Imran's legacy was a team as strong as Pakistan has ever possessed but it is a team that would be eclipsed by Australia and then fade away, potential unfulfilled.

The parallels with 1992 of course are strong, but if Babar's team were to win then the legacy may be very different. 1992 was the high point of an era, and the adventures and misadventures that followed never quite matched that night in Melbourne, which is why it sits so vividly in our memories. Instead of a stepping stone to greater success, 1992 turned out to be the peak of an era dominated by Imran and Javed.

In the intervening years, Pakistan cricket has often fought adversity, most notably the cricketing exile of the last decade and a half. Pakistan challenging at the top seems almost normal again but the achievement must not be taken for granted. These were hard years, sustained by the defiance of the teams of Misbah-ul Haq and rejuvenated by the inspirational introduction of the Pakistan Super League, which allowed Pakistan to nurture its talents and recalibrate itself with the leading standards in international cricket. Babar and all...