Drooping shoulders, low morale and tentative cricket - Pakistan and West Indies battle all of these as they face off against each other in a Pool B match of ICC World Cup 2015 at Christchurch. Hurting from their opening defeats, both teams are looking to collect their first points but only one can emerge as the winner. Which of the two will it be? Get live updates here:(Scorecard | Results | Fixtures)
03:05 (IST): TOSS! Pakistan have won the toss and have decided to field first. Both teams have made one change each. Nasir Jamshed comes in for Yasir Shah, while Kemar Roach makes way for Sulieman Benn.
Pakistan cricket team
© Getty Images
Pakistan and West Indies have had a short but similar tale in the World Cup so far. It would be fair to compare their early pains as while Pakistan lost to arch-rivals India for the sixth time in World Cups, West Indies crashed to minnows Ireland. No amount of lip service has been able to justify their defeats but both teams have since devoted themselves to training harder, longer. (Also read: Darren Sammy fit to fight Pakistan)
The two teams are hardly alien to each other and would attempt to draw their plans from past duels. The Windies do have a better head-to-head record but then again, the current group of players are only pale shadows of legends who helped the side dominate in the past. Of the 126 ODIs between the two teams, West Indies have won 68 as against 55 won by Pakistan with three tied games. Even in World Cups, the team from the Caribbeans have a 6-3 record. (Also read: No panic button yet but batting worries Pakistan captain Misbah)
Past stats do not guarantee wins and on paper, the current Pakistani side would fancy its chances against a coach-less Windies team. (Also read: Phil Simmons to take over as WI coach after World Cup)
Records galore beckon the Pakistani players - further incentive to play out of their skins. While Shahid Afridi needs one more wicket to go clear of Shaun Pollock as the outright fifth highest ODI wicket-taker (393 wickets currently), captain Misbah-ul-Haq will look to add to his tally of nine fifties from 15 innings vs West Indies.
When chips are down though, the men in red have demonstrated fierce cricketing skills. Once again, the batting will revolve around Chris Gayle who needs 60 runs to become the 11th player to score 1,000 runs in ODIs between these teams. The West Indies side have also lost their last four World Cup matches but have never lost five in a row. Will this be an incentive enough?
0 comments:
Post a Comment