Both sides boast an array of talented, if not always consistent, match-winners with West Indies fielding hard-hitting batsmen such as Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles, while Pakistan's attack features star off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
Bravo, Charles and Ramnaresh Sarwan provided the bulk of the West Indies' runs in their recent warm-up win over Sri Lanka that followed defeat in a practice match against Champions Trophy holders Australia.
For Pakistan, the fixture will be their first competitive match in England since their scandal-hit tour of 2010.
A new-look side under veteran captain Misbah-ul-Haq showed their class with a six-wicket warm-up win over Group B rivals South Africa at The Oval on Monday.
The Caribbean team, which won the title in 2004 besides finishing runners-up in 1998 and 2006, is high on star power, while Pakistan is a team full of greenhorns despite being led by the oldest player in the event -- a 39-year-old Misbah-ul-Haq.
On the bowling front, the outfit has quite a few tricksters in the line-up, including the surprise package of pacer Jason Holder.
The youngest in the team is 6'8" tall and could prove to be a decisive factor in the seaming conditions with his medium pace.
Interestingly, the West Indians have the record of most number of matches won in the Champions Trophy, having registered 12 victories.
Pakistan, in contrast, have no big match-winners to boast of, but if any team is capable of doing exactly what is not expected of it, it is Pakistan. Misbah's men are considered mercurial and temperamental but talented and passionate nonetheless.
0 comments:
Post a Comment