Pakistan vs West Indies | 2nd Match, World Cup | Nottingham | May 31, 2019 | Pre-Match Discussion

[zulfiqar]

This is a dangerous match-up for Pakistan and Sarfaraz needs all his street-smart cricketing brain here. The best shot Pakistan have at winning this is to bank completely on spin bowling. Hafeez & Imad Wasim are no-brainer seclections for me (I don't care that Imad "darts" it in - it seems to work on most occasions). Shadab should also be played. We can easily get 25-30 overs from these guys. Hide Wahab behind the pavilion because he will get absolutely hammered - my pacers of choice would be Amir & Hassan Ali. Include anyone but Wahab as 3rd pacer for this game IMO - and even going with the bold decision of just 2 pacers would be okay by me! This will allow an extra batsman and relying on the likes of Hafeez/Malik/Harris to bowl 10 overs. This is only because its Windies and we've annihilated their line-up in the past with spin bowling up front.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Pakistan should play

Fakhar
Imam
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Hafeez
Asif
Imad
Hasan
Shadab
Aamir

No point playing phasht bowlers like wahab on this wicket. Aamir bowls around 130 kph but his cutters are effective but it's more important to bowl as much spin as possible I guess and to lengthen the batting.

 

[Pete Rose]

Pakistan should play

Fakhar
Imam
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Hafeez
Asif
Imad
Hasan
Shadab
Aamir

No point playing phasht bowlers like wahab on this wicket. Aamir bowls around 130 kph but his cutters are effective but it's more important to bowl as much spin as possible I guess and to lengthen the batting.

I dont see them play two pacers only

 

[Nikhil_cric]

I dont see them play two pacers only

West Indies batsmen love pace on the ball. I think hafeez and Aamir should open the bowling and Hasan should come on in the middle overs with shadab. I think wahab will go for plenty here .

 

[Ronaldo7]

Wanna see a repeat of this...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/c...2011-Pakistan-v-West-Indies-match-report.html

 

[ARK Rafay]

It will go either way. West Indies scoring huge or below par. That's why I think it's important Pakistan bats first

 

[Pete Rose]

West Indies batsmen love pace on the ball. I think hafeez and Aamir should open the bowling and Hasan should come on in the middle overs with shadab. I think wahab will go for plenty here .

That probably the plan. Aamir at one end and Imad/Hafeez at the other end. If it works, first change will come around the tenth over with Hasan Ali. They will bowl Wahab around the 15th over or something. This is of course if everything goes according to plan.

 

[ARK Rafay]

That probably the plan. Aamir at one end and Imad/Hafeez at the other end. If it works, first change will come around the tenth over with Hasan Ali. They will bowl Wahab around the 15th over or something. This is of course if everything goes according to plan.

Sarfraz has to use the spinners really well and if Pakistan can manage to bowl around 30 overs of spin I think we can really catch WI with spin trap

 

[Oxfordchamp]

Almost all experts and commentators predicting WI win tomorrow..

 

[Pete Rose]

Sarfraz has to use the spinners really well and if Pakistan can manage to bowl around 30 overs of spin I think we can really catch WI with spin trap

Yes, the thing with spinner is that as captain you have to hold your nerve if they are being attacked. Especially if you are defending a sub-par score.

 

[Plumb]

Pakistan 12 member squad against West Indies tomorrow

1. Fakhar Zaman
2. Imam ul Haq
3. Babar Azam
4. Mohammad Hafeez
5. Sarfaraz Ahmad
6. Harris Sohail
7. Asif Ali
8. Shadab Khan
9. Imad Wasim
10. Mohammad Amir
11. Wahab Riaz
12. Hassan Ali

Great... seems like either Haris or Asif will play. I would lean towards Asif for the first game....

 

[Ronaldo7]

Almost all experts and commentators predicting WI win tomorrow..

A lot of experts were picking pak over wi for the semis. But i think the 421 has really made them change their mind.
Also looking at how pak's bowling has been it is understandable.

 

[szundercover]

Almost all experts and commentators predicting WI win tomorrow..

Yup most of the commies don't want Pakistan to win the world cup.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Almost all experts and commentators predicting WI win tomorrow..

Even bookies have wi as favourites now.
Before the wc pak were considerable favourites over them.

 

[jnaveen1980]

A lot of experts were picking pak over wi for the semis. But i think the 421 has really made them change their mind.
Also looking at how pak's bowling has been it is understandable.

More to do with Pakistan's losing streak.

 

[Oxfordchamp]

More to do with Pakistan's losing streak.

Yes and in addition, the ground and pitch are suited for batting..Also for WI, key players have returned and seem very determined..

 

[ARK Rafay]

One thing is for sure Pakistan can't compete with windies if it is going to be a batting run feast. Because no matter how bat windies bowl or how good Pakistan bat. Pakistan aren't chasing ~400

 

[Rifaqat]

Almost all experts and commentators predicting WI win tomorrow..

And they are right

Awful squad selection for tomorrow

 

[Mueez]

And they are right

Awful squad selection for tomorrow

Because Malik isn’t playing right?

To be honest I would’ve played him instead of Imad Wasim because he can bowl off-spin.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Because Malik isn’t playing right?

To be honest I would’ve played him instead of Imad Wasim because he can bowl off-spin.

But he doesn't bowl.

 

[Mueez]

But he doesn't bowl.

Thanks to our kaptaan...

However the 12 man squad is selected for tomorrow and now it is time to back the guys.

Lets get it home boys!

 

[topspin]

I would drop Shadab. Going by opposition in ODIs, his second highest economy rate is against the Windies and his presence in the side will weaken the batting significantly.

Really don't think he will be much of a threat with the ball especially against these in-form and well-built West Indies batsmen.

Fakhar
Imam
Babar
Hafeez/Haris (depending on when they lose their second wicket)
Sarfraz
Haris/Hafeez
Asif Ali
Imad
Hasan Ali
Amir
Wahab

 

[Captain caveman]

I would drop Shadab. Going by opposition in ODIs, his second highest economy rate is against the Windies and his presence in the side will weaken the batting significantly.

Really don't think he will be much of a threat with the ball especially against these in-form and well-built West Indies batsmen.

Fakhar
Imam
Babar
Hafeez/Haris (depending on when they lose their second wicket)
Sarfraz
Haris/Hafeez
Asif Ali
Imad
Hasan Ali
Amir
Wahab

So you want to drop the only spinner we have who spins the ball, against a team who generally struggle against spin?

 

[Mueez]

So you want to drop the only spinner we have who spins the ball, against a team who generally struggle against spin?

And who has taken bundles of wickets against Windies?

 

[jnaveen1980]

Despite Windies fire power i don't think Pakistan lacks fire power either. THey are very much capable of racking up 300 plus against WI bowling.

 

[Captain caveman]

And who has taken bundles of wickets against Windies?

Yes its prefable to have someone who takes loads of wickets, obviously. But a partnership breaker is important to, as it can lead to more wickets from other bowlers. Shadab can break partnerships and give control to safaraz in the middle overs.

 

[StreetSmart]

Just reading all the comments are making me scared, it seems like Pakistan have already lost the match againt mighty Westindies

 

[Mueez]

Yes its prefable to have someone who takes loads of wickets, obviously. But a partnership breaker is important to, as it can lead to more wickets from other bowlers. Shadab can break partnerships and give control to safaraz in the middle overs.

Exactly Shadab is a match winner.

Period.

 

[Mueez]

One tip for all.

Do not expect Amir will be bowling 145+ kphs.

He will be grunting by the third over.

I hope I’m wrong.

 

[Markhor]

All the talk is about Gayle but I'm worried that Shimron Hetmyer will score a world stage announcing innings.

 

[Captain caveman]

One tip for all.

Do not expect Amir will be bowling 145+ kphs.

He will be grunting by the third over.

I hope I’m wrong.

Amir is no longer a wicket taking bowler, unfortunately. But he still has alot of value for our side as a container. This will put pressure on batsman and will help the other bowlers to take wickets. Also, he is an excellent death bowler for the above reasons i.e. he doesnt give away too many runs.

 

[Hasan123]

All the talk is about Gayle but I'm worried that Shimron Hetmyer will score a world stage announcing innings.

Lol I'm more worried about Shai Hope as he is in excellent form!

 

[Captain caveman]

All the talk is about Gayle but I'm worried that Shimron Hetmyer will score a world stage announcing innings.

You should be worried about whose WI's worse player - we're make him a star!

 

[Sarfarazian92]

does anyone know how long before the match do teams arrive? thanks

 

[farrukh shad]

Pakistan vs WI - pre match analysis from the stands

It can't get better than having two unpredictable teams at the beginning of the WC to start their campaign! These two sides never feature as favourites during the WC but can't be ruled out either. They are the cornered tigers, dark horses, wild card or watever you call them - but the opposition always has a fear factor when facing them as they can turn the match around with a single man heroism or pure magical team play on their day. The last time WI won a World Cup was 40 years ago & same stands for Pakistan as well with a gap of 27 years since they lifted the World Cup trophy in 1992.

So what should be Pakistan's game plan against the Windies?

To start with, the final XI of Pakistan - I would drop Haris Sohail and play Asif Ali on this track. Asif can be used as a pinch hitter we really need to come around the 40th over and exploit the third power play. Sarfaraz needs to come at no 5 and not after Asif Ali. With 3 pacers (Wahab, Amir, Hassan) and 3 spinners (Shadab, Hafeez, Imad) we have a great bowling line up as well. Key is how we use and rotate them at key moments.Imad or Shadab can open the bowling with Amir and we all know Wahab & Hassan are at their best as first change bowlers.
Lets start with the toss, In my view Pakistan needs to bat first on a flat Nottingham pitch. This is a great track to put up a decent score (> 330 runs) and put the opposition under pressure with economical & tactical bowling to defend.
Pakistan's top 4 batsmen have to ensure the RR doesnt drop below 6 in the first 25 overs. I would say, for this to happen - either Fakhar has to stay at the crease for 10-15 overs or Babar has to play with a strike rate of 120 or so. Imam can play the anchor innings. WI heavily relies on their pace attack which is super penetrative with Gabriel, Thomas, Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Cottrell and then captain Holder himself. On a Nottingham flat pitch, this attack be can exploited if couple of pacers are targetted. Keep in mind that WI is weak in the spin department with this line up, so thats the weakness Pakistan can build on.
On the other side, WI has depth in their batting line up and the top 4 (with Shai Hope & Gayle) can be super destructive on their day. They can go after Wahab or Hassan in a big way if they are not bowling the right line & length. Sheer pace only wont work with WI on this track - this is where the Pakistani pace attack can be exploited. Another area where Pakistan will need to control the WI batsmen is fielding. WI batsmen rely a lot on their ability to hit boundaries and sixes - in the warm up march against NZ, they hit 41 boundaries & 18 sixes! So, if the bowlers can contain them with tight bowling and fielders frustate the batsmen with their athletic fielding, the WI batsmen can throw away their wickets. This will depend a lot on Pakistan's field placement and putting the right fielder at the right spot specially in the first 25 overs where WI has the ability to walk away with the match.

Look forward to watch this encounter and I will be back with a post match view from the stands!

 

[Rathore]

Seeing everyone saying wi win it would be so Pakistanish to win it with ease and give peace to all the 'bechain' hearts!

 

[Abdullah]

Bat first ,bat big. They aren't chasing 350 + 8 times out of 10.
Don't care how many power players they have.
And we should be looking at 350 against that bowling even if we have 40-0 after 10

 

[Mercurial]

I think we shot our 5 years preparation, for this WC, in the foot by selecting Wahab and Amir, as both have been disastrous recently. We will be heavily dependent on Hasan Ali, let's see if he can single handedly take us to the next round.

I have mixed feelings about our batting unit as well, as we don't have a reliable power hitter.

I think a lot will depend on our bowling, but when I see the names of Amir, Hasnain and Wahab, it doesn't give me much hope.

 

[Gullycricket]

Need to teach a lesson to all those who expect 500 runs against this bowling attack.

 

[jnaveen1980]

You could say it depends on which Pakistan side turns up and also which West Indian side turns up. Both are unpredictable.

 

[Mercurial]

I don't buy this 'unpredictable or you don't know which Pakistan side turns up' line anymore because of the mediocrity of this team, to be honest. In Champions Trophy you had Fakhar Zaman who was new, and Hasan Ali who was at his peak kind of. You didn't have a TTF like Wahab, or an unknown like Hasnain, or a recent disaster like Amir. The bowling is completely out of form going into this tournament. Fingers crossed.

 

[sjahmed23]

West indies ate NZ for breakfast in the last game they played and NZ has one of the best bowling attacks in the world. Pak can only hope to get lucky with this one, they are not stopping WI without a genuine off spinner.

 

[Chokli]

The two person commentary booth is lame when one of them is a woman.

 

[The Viper]

Windies bowling attack is not amazing. I think the top three should get runs. Bowling first and restricting them to under 350 is the best hope.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Why does everyone believe that West Indies will not be expecting spin up front and have a plan of their own?

 

[Warrior868]

Good luck tommorow guys. WI is too unpredictable even with these heavy hitters. I've been through too much with this team.

 

[farrukh shad]

Pakistan vs WI - pre match analysis from the stands

It can't get better than having two unpredictable teams at the beginning of the WC to start their campaign! These two sides never feature as favourites during the WC but can't be ruled out either. They are the cornered tigers, dark horses, wild card or watever you call them - but the opposition always has a fear factor when facing them as they can turn the match around with a single man heroism or pure magical team play on their day. The last time WI won a World Cup was 40 years ago & same stands for Pakistan as well with a gap of 27 years since they lifted the World Cup trophy in 1992.

So what should be Pakistan's game plan against the Windies?

To start with, the final XI of Pakistan - I would drop Haris Sohail and play Asif Ali on this track. Asif can be used as a pinch hitter we really need to come around the 40th over and exploit the third power play. Sarfaraz needs to come at no 5 and not after Asif Ali. With 3 pacers (Wahab, Amir, Hassan) and 3 spinners (Shadab, Hafeez, Imad) we have a great bowling line up as well. Key is how we use and rotate them at key moments.Imad or Shadab can open the bowling with Amir and we all know Wahab & Hassan are at their best as first change bowlers.
Lets start with the toss, In my view Pakistan needs to bat first on a flat Nottingham pitch. This is a great track to put up a decent score (> 330 runs) and put the opposition under pressure with economical & tactical bowling to defend.
Pakistan's top 4 batsmen have to ensure the RR doesnt drop below 6 in the first 25 overs. I would say, for this to happen - either Fakhar has to stay at the crease for 10-15 overs or Babar has to play with a strike rate of 120 or so. Imam can play the anchor innings. WI heavily relies on their pace attack which is super penetrative with Gabriel, Thomas, Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Cottrell and then captain Holder himself. On a Nottingham flat pitch, this attack be can exploited if couple of pacers are targetted. Keep in mind that WI is weak in the spin department with this line up, so thats the weakness Pakistan can build on.
On the other side, WI has depth in their batting line up and the top 4 (with Shai Hope & Gayle) can be super destructive on their day. They can go after Wahab or Hassan in a big way if they are not bowling the right line & length. Sheer pace only wont work with WI on this track - this is where the Pakistani pace attack can be exploited. Another area where Pakistan will need to control the WI batsmen is fielding. WI batsmen rely a lot on their ability to hit boundaries and sixes - in the warm up march against NZ, they hit 41 boundaries & 18 sixes! So, if the bowlers can contain them with tight bowling and fielders frustate the batsmen with their athletic fielding, the WI batsmen can throw away their wickets. This will depend a lot on Pakistan's field placement and putting the right fielder at the right spot specially in the first 25 overs where WI has the ability to walk away with the match.

Look forward to watch this encounter and I will be back with a post match view from the stands!

 

[giri26]

Holder remains wary of downtrodden Pakistan

They will face off against Pakistan, who have lost their last 11 completed ODIs, as well as their one completed warm-up, against Afghanistan. Nonetheless, Holder wasn’t getting ahead of himself, speaking the day before the two sides face off, and was quick to point out his own team’s frailties rather than focusing on Pakistan’s.

“We just want to be as professional as we possibly can and not take anything for granted,” he said. “We just assess who we're playing against, formulate our plans and look to execute them. You try to pinpoint particular areas that you can attack.

“Us as a bowling group, we just want to be as disciplined as we possibly can. In the past we've been a bit inconsistent and just generally when you're just sitting back and analysing the game, we just want to be ticking our box in terms of being consistent and being ruthless.”

Even if Holder is playing it cool, pundits and West Indies fans have been purring about the possibilities abundant in the Caribbean side. In their final warm-up game against New Zealand, the Windies racked up 412, and with Trent Bridge having been the scene of the two highest team scores in ODI history – one of which came against Pakistan – some have speculated that we could be about to witness ODI cricket’s first 500-plus total.

“I don't want to sit before a game and say we're looking to score 500 or 600,” Holder said. “I just want to play it as we see it as assess the conditions like any other game. I think where the game has gone now, especially in England here, there have been some high totals, but there have been totals that are relatively low scoring. It can happen.”

Still, while Holder didn’t want to make any bold claims, he was keen to talk up the merits of his team, who have come from being outsiders to being rated by many as dark horses to take home the title.

“Every player is in a good frame of mind,” he said. “Everybody is playing with a smile on their face, and I think that's how we play our best cricket. We're fearless, we enjoy what we're doing and we enjoy one another's company. We've got an atmosphere that we would like to create, and we've got the energy going into this tournament that we would want to have.”

https://www.cricketworldcup.com/news/en/1230943

 

[Alamgeer]

If over head conditions are good for swing and pitch is bit two pace more like yesterday's one then we should bowl first if win the toss. There are talks of possibilities of 500 could be scored against us. Every one under estimating our bowling. We have a good bowling attack and i am sure it will turn up today InshaAllah.

 

[pratiktc]

Pak should play Amir, Hasan and Shaheen and bat first.
Babar has to hold the inns together like he did against Afg

Please no Riaz at Trent Bridge...his pace and waywardness is exactly what Windies

 

[Alamgeer]

Our second match against England on June 3rd is also on same venue.

 

[Hasan]

Play with confidence in their ability and they should win.

 

[Itachi]

I think Pakistan should treat this as a practice match so that the players get in form before facing the big 3. It's the perfect platform and schedule for Pakistan.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pak should play Amir, Hasan and Shaheen and bat first.
Babar has to hold the inns together like he did against Afg

Please no Riaz at Trent Bridge...his pace and waywardness is exactly what Windies

You think they will leave out Wahab after his two wickets in the warm up in late overs? Not a chance. I think his name will be the first one. It is already there.

 

[Captain caveman]

WI are a team who can destroy you on their day or capitulate if its not their day. Many say the same about pak. I dont think this is true of pak anymore. Pak plays a pretty constant type of cricket these days. Pak batting is good and there bowling is about average. I know we have been on a bad run, but we have scored decently and like i said, we bowled ok, not great. A little improvement in the bowling and fielding and i think we wil do ok. As for WI, im hoping they keep to their unpredictable reputation and after a great performance against NZ, put in a terrible performance against pak.

 

[Captain caveman]

I suggest we bat first, unless its warm with cloud cover. Lets put some scoreboard pressure on WI and see how they cope. They may just implode by playing big shots and getting caught.
Pak bowlers need to bowl within the stumps, no width and no back of the length deliveries. And remember to mix up their bowling by using bouncers, yorkers and slow balls. SA bowled well to england, another big hitting team, by using slow balls.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

I have a feeling WI will score big if they bat first. Fingers crossed ...