West Indies vs Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on May 31 (Friday) will be broadcast on the Star Sports network and Live streaming will be accessible on Hotstar. The match will be played in Nottingham and will start at 15:00 HRS IST.
Only a couple of years back, Pakistan had staggered the cricketing world (as they frequently have in their long history) by winning the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in England with a success over arch-rivals India in a dramatic final. Nobody gave the Pakistanis any chance, heading into the final after India had pounded them by 124 runs in their past meeting in a similar tournament.
Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side should draw on a similar motivation when they start the ICC World Cup battle against the West Indies at Trent Bridge on Friday as rank-outcasts, much like their adversaries. The present ICC ranking — Pakistan are 6th while West Indies are 8th — don’t recount to the entire story about this potential hazardous experience.
The Windies are floated by the return of Chris Gayle and Andre Russell into their line-up for the tournament. Russell, particularly, has affectionate memories of confronting Pakistan in the wake of crushing a blasting 13-ball 42 in the two side’s last experience in the 2015 World Cup.
The all-rounder is returning on the of an awesome season for Kolkata Knight Riders, where he crushed sixes freely. He carried a similar form into the warm-up games, crushing 54 off 25 balls against 2015 World Cup runners-up New Zealand.
West Indies have set off the warning bells even before the World Cup can get going by posting 421 in the warm-up game. Trent Bridge is a venue which has seen enormous aggregates in abundance with England posting 481/6 and 444/3 over the most recent three years. 500 will be their next target if Shai Hope and Carlos Brathwaite are to be believed.
“If you are asking me if we are capable of it, definitely we are,” Brathwaite said. “However, in a real game you probably won’t have the depth in batting at 10 and 11 that we had in warm-up game. So you need to be a little real about the target.”
Pakistan will be wary going into this tie realizing that their bowlers neglected to defend more than 350 in the last few ODIs against England.
“We will seek inspiration from our Champions Trophy win because then also we were losing and then lifted ourselves at the right time to win the trophy,” Sarfaraz told AFP ahead of the game in Nottingham.
“The boys are motivated and are eager to put these losses behind them and by playing in England for a month we are well prepared and you will hopefully see us doing well,” the Pakistan skipper, one of Pakistan’s only two survivors from the 2015 World Cup along with Haris Sohail, said.
Last Five ODIs
West Indies: WLWLL
Jason Holder’s side had mixed results in the tri-series in Ireland likewise including Bangladesh. The side however is supported by the return of Gayle, Russell and Carlos Brathwaite from their IPL commitments.
Pakistan: NRLLLL
They lost the ODI series against England 4-0 even in the wake of posting amazing aggregates in all the ODIs.
Players to watch out for
West Indies:
Andre Russell: many individuals trust him to be Windies’ X-factor in the World Cup. 510 runs in IPL-12 came at a strike-rate of 204 while an incredible 52 sixes. He has carried on this form into the warm-up games. On Trent Bridge’s flat track, Russell will hold up detonate.
Pakistan:
Babar Azam: If Russell is master-blaster, Azam is the master-accumulator. The youthful Pakistan batsmen is the support around which the Pakistan side revolves with an average of 51.67 in 64 ODIs with nine centuries as of now. Azam was in top form against England with 115 and 80 in the last two ODIs and furthermore included a century in the warm-up game against Afghanistan a week ago.
Team News/Availability:
West Indies: Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel was the only damage worry in their squad in the wake of limping off in their rained-out warm-up game against South Africa. In any case, he has been cleared of damage in spite of the fact that he didn’t include in the second warm-up game.
Pakistan: While there was a question mark over Mohammad Amir’s availablity, the captain Sarfraz Ahmed has clarified that the left-arm paceman is completely fit and will be accessible for selection.
Squads:
West Indies: Jason Holder (capt), Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope (wk), Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Hasnain.
