The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 opener saw the hosts England and South Africa going head-to-head. As the tournament moves into its second day, two former champions in Windies and Pakistan will lock horns at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Windies won the elusive cup twice that too simultaneously in the year 1975 and 1979 in England, on the other hand, Pakistan won the cup once in the year 1992 in Australia under the charismatic captaincy of Imran Tahir. In the last edition of the World Cup i.e. in 2015, both teams made it to the Quarter-finals stage but failed to proceed further.
Pakistan are in deep jeopardy after they failed to win a single game on the English soil since they have been here i.e. April. They came here to play a 5-match ODI series against England which they lost 4-0 and then lost their warm-up match against the minnows Afghanistan. They need to regroup and rectify their mistakes to go deep in the tournament.
Windies, on the other hand, will be high on confidence as they are coming into this match after defeating a full-fledged New Zealand side in the warm-up game by 91 runs. The blackcaps failed to chase a mammoth score of 421 even after a valiant century from the wicket-keeper batsmen Tom Blundell.
As both teams prepare for their first match of the competition, a good start is what they would be looking for which will help them gain some momentum right from the start.
Windies vs Pakistan
Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Time: May 31, 03:00 PM
Matches: 10
West Indies won: 7
Pakistan won: 3
Ties: 0
No result: 0
The surface is considered as a typical batting strip. As compared t other grounds here in England, there is less seam movement for the fast bowlers and the White ball won’t swing here at all. Off-late, it has been a batting paradise.
Matches: 45
Avg 1st inn score: 252
Won batting first: 18 (41%)
Avg 2nd inn score: 219
Won batting second: 24 (55%)
Highest Total: 481/8 (50 Ov) by ENG vs AUS
Lowest Total: 83/10 (23 Ov) by RSA vs ENG
Tied: 2 (4%)
No result/abandoned: 1
Windies squad to face Pakistan:
Jason Holder (c), Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Shannon Gabriel, Nicholas Pooran, Oshane Thomas, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Shai Hope, Kemar Roach, Shimron Hetmyer, Fabien Allen, Sheldon Cottrell.
Pakistan squad to face Windies:
Sarfaraz Ahmed (c & wk), Mohammad Amir, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Asif Ali, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Haris Sohail.
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WINDIES: Evin Lewis, Shanon Gabriel, Fabian Allen and Kemar Roach not playing
PAKISTAN: Asif Ali, Mohd Hasnain, Shaheen Afridi and Shoaib Malik missing out.
Windies: Chris Gayle, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Oshane Thomas, Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Sheldon Cottrell, Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer
Pakistan: Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz
Undeniably, Shai Hope is in the best form of his life. In his last 5 ODIs, he has accumulated 470 runs at a terrific average of 94. He averages 36.66 against Pakistan and his last innings against Pakistan saw him scoring 71.
The big Jamaican’s last 5 ODI scores are 73, 135, 50, 162, 77. He has been in top-form off late and playing in his last World Cup, he would be looking to make this mega-event his own.
The all-rounder made IPL 2019 his own with some ferocious batting display which saw him single-handedly taming the opponents. He got a quick-fire 50 in the warm-up game against NZ and showed the glimpse of the brutality he is going to offer in this World Cup.
He will be playing his first ever World-Cup and will definitely be one to watch out for. In his last 4 ODI innings, he has garnered 261 runs at a scintillating average of 65.25. Against Windies, his average jumps up to an astonishing figure of 102.80 and has scored 4-hundred from just 7 innings.
The devastating opening duo of Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq will be raring to go and make an impact right from the very first game. In the recently concluded series against England, Fakhar scored 200 runs from 5 matches, whereas his partner got 234 runs from just 4 matches.
Hasan Ali has scalped 9 wickets against this opponent from 6 ODI’s with his best figures being 5 for 38.