New look West Indies will take on mercurial Pakistan

 

After success in one off T20 game new look West Indian team will take on mercurial Pakistan in 1st ODI at St. Lucia. Many big names will be missing from this ODI series which reduces its glamour but its a chance for new players to showcase their talent and establish themselves in their respective sides.

West Indies will not feature Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo in this ODI while Pakistan has not included  Umar Gul, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal. After loss in one off T20 game Pakistan will look to start this ODI series with a win while West Indies will be hoping of good performance from its youngsters. This series lost in hullaballoo of IPL but it is important series for West Indies and Pakistan. West Indies dropped players like Gayle, Sarwan Chanderpaul while Pakistan rested Younis Khan and Umar Gul.

Pakistan reached the semis of World Cup 2011 and playing very good cricket so far. While West Indies had disastrous World Cup campaign where they managed to reached the quarter-finals but couldn’t progress further. West Indian cricket  also got involved in controversy by dropping its star players especially Chris Gayle, who showed his form other night at Edens. It is important match and series for few youngsters from both the teams. From Pakistan Wahab Riaz, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Salman(WK) will be under radar. From West Indian perspective all eyes will be on Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edward, Devendra Bishoo and Andre Russell.

Pitch at St. Lucia will be slower and certainly help the spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Devendra Bishoo will certainly play big role in this game. Pakistan got out of the controversy of match-fixing and now Afridi will certainly look to take this young Pakistani team  to new heights. While West Indies is building the side for future. Pakistan won 3 matches from last 5 they played while West Indies won 2 matches out of last 5. West Indies lost their last ODI against Pakistan in World Cup 2011 quarter-final at Mirpur and that give little edge to Pakistan but win in T20 game certainly given little hope to Darren Sammy and his boys.

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Squads:

 1 Devon Smith, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Kirk Edwards, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Carlton Baugh (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Ravi Rampaul

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1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Hammad Azam, 7 Mohammad Salman (wk), 8 Shahid Afridi (capt), 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Tanvir Ahmed, 11 Saeed Ajmal.

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Sri Lanka faced the unexpected as Pakistan won well fought contest

This was one of the match which Sangakkara and his team wants to forget as soon as possible. They trapped badly in their own plan. The ground which witnessed only Lankan victories became witness of Pakistan team's victory for a change. I think moment Sangakkara lost the toss on slow and sluggish pitch it was evident that day was not favourable for Sri Lanka.There was atmosphere at the R Premadasa from the off, music and noise for once. Pakistan's openers came out at Sri Lanka's bowlers and a game was on our hands. Soon there was comedy, in Mohammad Hafeez's run-out, when men lose their wits utterly to the occasion itself. Soon two more wickets fell and one of them was Kamran Akmal's who literally threw his wicket.

There was then intelligence and wisdom in the partnership of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. For those who lack an appreciation of subtlety, the middle overs are hell. But how beautifully the pair manipulated angles and found space, a dink here, a deflection there, and how hard they ran. With barely any boundaries, the pair put on a 108-run stand at near enough a run a ball and the pace never felt as if it was slacking. In all they ran 65 singles and ten twos, true descendants of Asif Iqbal and Javed Miandad. Simultaneously there was the very physical appreciation of Sri Lankans in the field. Inside the circle they zipped around, like flying fish, hungry. Sri Lanka missed Lasith Malinga badly in this game because he was one player who would have made huge difference in this match from the Lankan prospects.

There was individual genius. In the build-up to this game, Pakistan spoke of Muttiah Muralitharan as if he wasn't Muttiah Muralitharan. He's too old, we play him well enough, he doesn't take wickets against us as he used to. All of this is essentially correct. Pakistan have learnt to play Muralitharan well but he still turned the entire nature of their innings, with his bowling at the death. It was mesmerising stuff, a reminder of his quite immense brain, against a bright young talent, and a batsman set and in real form. Basically it was defence, but beautiful and actually a form of attack.

Two passages of action were outstanding. The first was Shoaib Akhtar, who even at this stage in his career, is capable of recreating the heat every now and again of his early years. As a spectacle, pinging back Mahela Jayawardene's middle stump was difficult to better and it probably turned the game. In the next over, Shahid Afridi's delicious undoing of Thilan Samaraweera effectively sealed matters. Pace at one end and leg-spin at the other: it is not an unusual combination any more but the richness of its choreography and the vast possibilities it contains has always been brought out best by Pakistan. 

Sangakkara once again lived upto his reputation and tried hard to win the game on his own but run-rate was mounting and that forced Sangakkara to play the shot which he would have avoided on most occasion. Later, we saw how men and collectives can fall apart. Pakistan do it often but there's always a strange calmness about how it happens. To the eye, it doesn't feel like anything is breaking down. No one is running about shouting or screaming, there are smiles and expressionless faces and bemused smiles. Yet easy catches are dropped, run-outs missed, misfields, wides and no-balls bowled, poor decisions made and so on. I think Kamran Akmal missed too many catches and everytime he drops the catch he comes under scrutiny after that  famous Sydney test match where he dropped too many catches and faced the charges of match-fixing.  Chamara Silva came close to pulling off the most cunning heist so that there was always punch and counter punch, so that for every wicket that fell late on, a boundary was the response, cricket in perfect balance as it should be. Of course the result sets the rest of the tournament up just right. Co-hosts and favourites beaten by dark horses is a story that sells and sells.

Its good to see Pakistan winning this match and this clearly show that they have forgot all the unfortunate happenings and approached this game with fresh and blank mind. I believe Pakistan can make a mark in this World  Cup and if they reach finals then it will not surprise anybody if they continue to perform like they performed against Lankan giants but they have to improve on their fielding and top-order batting which is becoming bit of worry for them. Important thing from Pakistan's aspect is the bowling of form of their captain Shahid Afridi who is leading the team from the front atleast with the ball. He looked unplayable at times and had two very good games with the ball. I think if he continues to perform like this then this will definitely inspire youngsters in the team to do well.

Sri Lanka have to erase this match from their memories and have to focus on the coming games and try to win all of them to sail smoothly into the quarters and I believe one loss does not make the worst team.

Team Pakistan: Analysis and Odds for ICC World Cup’11

Pakistan (Group A)

Group Rivals :-	Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya
Coach :-	Waqar Younis
Captain :-	Shahid Afridi
Best Performance in WC :-	Champions in 1992
Highest Score in WC :-	349 All Out (49.5 Overs) v/s Zimbabwe in WC’07
Lowest Score in WC :-	74 All Out (40.2 Overs) v/s England in WC’92
Best Individual Score :-	160, Imran Nazir v/s Zimbabwe in WC’07
Best Bowling :-	5-28 Wasim Akram v/s Namibia in WC’03
Matches Won/Lost/Tied/NR	30-24-0-2
The Odds :-	10-2
ICC ODI Ranking :-	No.6

MAN TO WATCH Shahid AFRIDI Everybody knows this controversial cricketer of Pakistan but at the same time he is superb player for Pakistan over the years. He holds the record of fastest century in ODIs. He is capable batsmen who can bat anywhere in the order and bowls his leg-spin effectively. He is known as irresponsible cricketer in world cricket but I believe in this World Cup he will emerge as most responsible player because he is also captaining the Pakistan team and he is hoping to do well with bat and ball and lead his side with example. His sheer presence on the crease can terrorise any opposition. He is a game changer with both bat and ball. His recent performances in New Zealand confirms his maturity and I believe he will do wonders in this World Cup.Spectators will watch more reformed Afridi. Watch out for big booming sixes of his bat in World Cup. Career-best performance: Batting: 124  v/s Bangladesh at Dambulla in 201o Bowling: 38-6 v/s Australia at Dubai in 2009

The unpredictable is the most dangerous. Pakistan’s biggest strength is their form swings. Embroiled in controversies over team selection, captaincy, match-fixing and cricket board politics, Pakistan have the bowling ammunition to repeat their 1992 success. The chance of a shot at lasting glory might make the players grit their teeth, bury animosities and play as a team.

Batsmen like Umar Akmal, Misbah Ul Haq, Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan make sure  no total looks daunting. The World Cup will also provide a big enough stage for Shoaib Akhtar‘s high-velocity antics. Pakistan unholding , yet again, might be the off-the-field action. Now all Shahid Afridi and Waqar Younis has to do is retain his players attention for the length of the Cup. In talent or tempestuousness, Pakistan are second to none though their 3 key players in Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer are out of the squad due to match-fixing scandal.

Pakistan have done well in New Zealand tour by winning 6 match ODI series 3-2 and this victory will definitely boost the morale of the Pakistani team in the time of crisis through which this  team is going through. They have couple of good young players who will make the mark in this World Cup and one of them is Ahmed Shehjad.

Key Players for Pakistan: Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Misbah Ul Haq, Umar akmal and Abdul; Razzaq