West Indies will be looking to close off their T20 International home series on a high when they take on Pakistan in the four-match Osaka Presents PSO Carient T20 Cup, starting today at 10 a.m. at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
The T20I series will be the final international fixtures for both teams before finalising their squads for the ICC T20 World Cup and will represent the final opportunity for them to fine-tune their plans and build some momentum ahead of the mega event.
For the hosts, they are coming off a series of mixed results against Australia and South Africa. The hosts lost their five-match T20I series against South Africa 3-2 but bounced back with a 4-1 victory against Australia.
Heading into the final stretch of matches, West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard said that regardless of what transpired in the series before, “nothing is going to stop us from coming out with that enthusiasm and intent and intensity to win cricket matches.”
“We knew that the series would finish for us from a white-ball perspective, on the third of August so we are going to rally until then,” he added.
Meanwhile, West Indies coach Phil Simmons and his opposite number Misbah Ul-Haq are both expecting a tough series as they finalise their plans for the World Cup.
“We are trying to build towards something and we are trying to put together how we can play our best cricket and I am sure this Pakistan team will be trying to do the same, so I am sure that will auger well for good cricket over the next four games,” said Simmons.
The West Indies coach also noted that he was looking forward to measuring how far his team has come since the start of the home series and said at the end of the four games, he will have a better idea of where they are.
“We have four games against one of the tougher teams in world cricket for us. No matter what format, we always have good, competitive cricket against Pakistan, so we are looking forward to seeing where we are at,” said Simmons.
“As I said before the South Africa games, at the end of these games we are going to know where our team is from a gelling point of view and if we gel well, we are very hard to beat and that’s what we are looking at in this final series before the World Cup,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Misbah knows better than to underestimate his opponents. He noted that Pakistan will have to bring their best to compete against their hosts. “I think West Indies is a very good team, keeping in mind the shorter formats. They are the world champions and obviously they are a force in T20 cricket,” he said.
“They have players playing in different leagues across the world, so everybody knows that they have the ability and the power in the shortest format. We are aware of that, and we know we have to play top quality cricket if we want to win against them. We need to be right up there at our best to play against West Indies,” Misbah added.
The Pakistan coach also admitted that it will be challenging for the visitors to get wins and fine-tune for the World Cup, but he said their main focus is the World Cup.
“It is going to be a challenge and this is our last series before announcing the team for the World Cup. You want to win but at the same time you want to see all your resources and what your team will look like and what you want to take to the mega event, so hopefully we will look at both of our objectives and see what combinations we can play against the West Indies to serve these two objectives,” said Misbah.
The series moves to Guyana on Saturday for the remaining three matches. Pakistan will then travel to Jamaica for two Tests to close off the tour
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No one telling me who is showing it in the UK and Europe?
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