Now that the easy-to-loathe Australians are out of the World Twenty20, who cares any more who wins? Suddenly, it feels like one is watching a horse race without any money riding on the outcome. Naturally, patriotism dictates that England must be cheered along but equally logic says that they cannot be taken as serious contenders. They will do remarkably well to reach the semi-finals. There's loyalty and then there's lunacy.

Barring the miracle of an English charge for glory, I know who I will be backing. It won't be the West Indians - although given the way they have been mooching around the country for weeks on end they are hardly going to run out of energy and it would be funny to hear Chris Gayle paying tribute to Sir Allen Stanford's work in promoting Twenty20 in the Caribbean during a victory speech in front of the ECB Suits at Lord's on June 21.

Nor will it be the Indians, who don't need the money or the encouragement to get any more excited about Twenty20 cricket than they are already, or the South Africans, who take the whole thing far too seriously.

A very strong case could be made for the likeable Sri Lankans, who possess the most exotically gifted cricketers in the world and who deserve every good fortune after enduring the traumatic terrorist attack on their team bus in Lahore. However, were they to win there is the very real danger that Sri Lanka's best players would forsake international cricket in favour of chasing Indian Premier League riches.

So my pick are Pakistan.

As things stand, Pakistan cricket is in the gravest crisis. The attack on the Sri Lankans effectively condemned Pakistan cricket to pariah status. Inevitably, painfully, Pakistan were removed as co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup and their players barred - by their own government, for their own safety - from taking part in the IPL. Only this week another hotel once frequented by Westerners - this time in Peshawar - was turned to rubble by a massive bomb. No major Test nation will be visiting Pakistan for years to come.

Even before Lahore, Pakistan were feeling isolated, their reputation eroded by numerous scandals, some of which involved two of their finest bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, neither of whom is at the World Twenty20.

Since January 2008, they have taken part in just two Tests (the second of them the one in Lahore that was abandoned amid the gunmen's bullets) and 19 ODIs. The rustiness was evident in Pakistan's two warm-up matches and then in their first encounter with England. But come their must-win match against the doughty Dutch, they started to find their feet.

It would be in keeping with their mercurial character if the Pakistanis now began to play with real magic. They have a good record at Twenty20 and are in much the easier Super Eight group. A semi-final spot is a genuine possibility - and then, who knows what?

What a Pakistan victory in this World Twenty20 would do is put its national team back near the centre of the cricketing map. They would once again be a team in demand and when you look at the talent they keep on unearthing that can only be a good thing.

Even if they couldn't host tours, other teams would be more willing to play them, either in the Middle East or in England (the ECB has already offered to stage a Pakistan-Australia series next year), and certainly to invite them to tour.

A Pakistan victory would be a wonderful thing, not only for the sake of the game in that benighted country but for the game worldwide.