West Indies vs Pakistan series kicked-off yesterday with T20 game. Schedule and Squad.

 

Important series between West Indies and Pakistan kicked-off yesterday with T20 game at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia. New look West Indies team won this game and Pakistan failed to open the account with a win. Pakistan lost to the completely reformed West Indian team. It was great game of T20 which lost in hype of IPL.

It's just one match, which will fade into obscurity by the end of the next, but West Indies began their latest New Era impressively, beating Pakistan by seven runs in the first ever Twenty20 match between the teams. Lendl Simmons made 65 to help West Indies set a competitive total before Devendra Bishoo's four wickets brought them victory. It was Ottis Gibson's desperation for renewal after a disastrous World Cup campaign that five fresh players were included in the squad. Chris Gayle, the former captain, who vented his frustration with Gibson and the WICB by joining Royal Challengers Bangalore and issuing a withering assessment of both in a radio interview. The off-field wrangling dominated the build-up to the match and is likely to rumble on for some time to come but West Indies fans could at least enjoy a moment of win.

Such drama is familiar to Pakistan but of late they have been alarmingly stable. Their last game was a passionate spectacle against India in the World Cup semi-final in Mohali, so they could be forgiven for looking a little underwhelmed by St Lucia. Very few spectators showed up but those who did were on the ground, treated to an entertaining opening from Simmons. Filling the big hole left by Gayle's absence he scored 65 from 44 balls and shared a 99-run stand for the second wicket with a fluent Darren Bravo, who made 42.The pair struck 15 boundaries between them, which proved crucial as West Indies collapsed in familiar fashion after they were separated.

Darren Sammy ensured Pakistan's chase got off on the wrong foot as he had Mohammad Hafeez caught at fine leg for 3 before Ahmed Shehzad spooned Ravi Rampaul to mid-on for 12. Asad Shafiq tried to revive the Pakistan innings with Umar Akmal before Bishoo picked up  two wickets in his first over. Shafiq was nicely caught for 25 by Danza Hyatt at  midwicket, before Misbah-ul-Haq was dismissed for a golden duck while treading on his stumps a ball later.  Mixing his pace and flight nicely Bishoo got his third wicket when Shahid Afridi played a cut to point on 12 to leave Pakistan in sorts of trouble

Having reached a run-a-ball 41, Umar was victim to his own misunderstanding. The previous delivery he had alerted the umpires to a no-ball caused by West Indies not having the required three men in the ring but, thinking the following ball was a free-hit, swung Rampaul to Marlon Samuels on the square-leg boundary. Umar lingered but the umpires this time knew better.What should have been a doddle from there for West Indies became tense, as Rampaul's no-ball-ridden penultimate over cost 15, but Andre Russell held his nerve in the final over to seal victory.

The lacklustre showing from Pakistan's batsmen was in sharp contrast to Simmons and Bravo. Happy to use their feet, both were proficient against the pace and spin and used the small boundaries to good effect. West Indies passed 100 in the 13th over and looked set to post a really significant total but a trademark collapse punctured the optimism. Bravo holed out to long-on off Abdur Rehman before Simmons was run out by Samuels two overs later. Samuels, on his comeback after serving a two-year ban for alleged involvement with illegal bookmakers, endured a torrid time as he laboured to 4 from 11 balls before running past a Saeed Ajmal doosra. Sammy followed quickly for 1 and it needed a last-over boundary to take the total past 150. Pakistan looked to have the edge but Bishoo ensured otherwise.

It was indeed a great performance by new look West Indian team which proved selectors decision correct atleast in this match.

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Pakistan have to play 5 ODIs and 2 Test Matches on this tour. ODIs will star from April 23, 2011.

Detailed Fixtures are as under:

Date	Time	Match	Venue
Mon Apr 18	10:00 local 19:30 IST	Uni. of WI Vice Chancellor's XI vs Pakistan	Mindoo Phillip Park, St Lucia
Thu Apr 21	09:30 local 19:00 IST	T20I - West Indies v Pakistan	Beausejour Stadium,  Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sat Apr 23	09:30 local 19:00 IST	1st ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Mon Apr 25	09:30 local 19:00 IST	2nd ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Thu Apr 28	09:30 local 19:00 IST	3rd ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Mon May 2	09:30 local 19:00 IST	4th ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
Thu May 5	09:30 local 19:00 IST	5th ODI - West Indies v Pakistan	Providence Stadium, Guyana
Sun May 8 - Mon May 9	10:00 local 19:30 IST	TBC v Pakistanis	Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana
Thu May 12 - Mon May 16	10:00 local 19:30 IST	1st Test - West Indies v Pakistan	Providence Stadium, Guyana
Fri May 20 - Tue May 24	10:00 local 19:30 IST	2nd Test - West Indies v Pakistan	Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts

ODI Squads:

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Shahid Afridi(Captain), Abdur Rehman,Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Hammad Azam, Junaid Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Salman(Wicket- Keeper), Sadaf Hussain, Saeed Ajmal, Tanvir Ahmed, Taufeeq Umar, Umar Akmal, Usman Salahuddin, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema.

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Darren Sammy(Captain), Carlton Baugh, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Devnedra Bishoo, Kirk Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Anthony Martin, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Devon Thomas.

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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.

No upset happened so far in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

Excitement less cricket happened till date in the 10th ICC Cricket World Cup since its inception on 19th February with India-Bangladesh match. No upsets happened so far in the World Cup and minnows were convincingly beaten by top teams but in yesterday's match between England and Netherlands it looked like first upset of this World Cup is on cards but England played brilliantly with the bat and won the match. England gave far too many runs in the field and dropped many catches and Dutch team took full advantage of that. Especially Ryan Ten Doestache played superb innings and hit brilliant century. Kolkata Knightriders and Shahrukh Khan must be pleased with his performances as Doestache will going to play for KKR in next edition of IPL.

Following are the results of the matches played so far in the World Cup:

No.	Date	Match	Result
Match No.1	19/02/2011	IND v/s BAN	India won by 87 runs
Match No.2	20/02/2011	KEN v/s NZL	New Zealand won by 10 wickets (with 252 balls remaining)
Match No. 3	20/02/2011	SRL v/s CAN	Sri Lanka won by 210 run
Match No.4	21/02/2011	AUS v/s ZIM	Australia won by 91 runs
Match No.5	22/02/2011	ENG v/s NET	England won by 6 wickets (with 8 balls remaining)

Except first match between India v/s Bangladesh and 5th match between England and Netherlands, all the matches were one-sided and failed to create any impact on the spectators. I believe ICCs decision of reducing teams for next ODI World Cup gets big support from the recent matches played in the World Cup. I believe coming matches will also not see any major upsets So overall excitement is missing so far in the World Cup.

Today one match will be played in Hambantota. Sri Lanka where Pakistan will take on 2003 semi-finalist Kenya. If we talk about Pakistan team they are most mercurial team in the World and you can expect anything from Pakistan from brilliant performance to lackluster performance. There is no surety about this team’s performance. This team can beat any team on its day and also get defeated from the hands of minnows. Pakistan team is coming in this World Cup with lot of controversies behind them. 3 key players are suspended for match-fixing and their captain was also selected  just few days before the World Cup. Although Pakistan team can take solace from their performance in New Zealand where they beat home side 3-2 in six match series. They are favourite to win today against Kenya .but there is no guarantee of win.

Kenya played its first match against New Zealand at Chennai and face big defeat at the hands of New Zealand. Kenya posted very small total  which New Zealand achieved in just 8 overs.  Entire match lasted for just 31.5 overs and got over before lunch. I believe Kenya is far more capable than what its performance at Chennai. If Kenya play as a team and apply themselves then they can beat any team but for that they need guidance and performance from their  most experience players in Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo.

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