Hello and Welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of the Pakistan vs West Indies in UAE 2016-17. This is the first One-Day International (ODI) and here you will get all the live updates of the match. The match is scheduled to be played at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Pakistan have been outstanding in the tour, playing in home away from home, and have dominated the tour so far giving no scope to West Indies to shine. West Indies, the current word champions in the Twenty20 International (T20I) format, have disappointed everyone with their under-performance in every section. The match brings along hopes for the visitors to regain respect while for Pakistan to carry on their domination.
Pakistan, who have ample experience of playing at the venues, executed a job well done. Earlier, they won a T20I in England and with the three back-to-back victories against West Indies, they now have four consecutive victories in the format. There was no room for West Indies to outwit Pakistan as they failed in every aspect, with the bat and ball and it resulted in a 3-0 T20I series. Confident after the performance in the T20I series, it will be hard for West Indies to pick up the momentum and get back at Pakistan.
Imad Wasim for Pakistan has been a game-changer. Starting with the ODI series in England, the player has been consistent both with bat and ball and is one of the key players. He did not get the chance to bat in the series but has put up an exceptional performance with the ball in hand, bagging 9 wickets from three T20Is in the tour. The conditions suited the all-rounder well, working positively for his bowling and he will be expected to produce some more match-winning performances as the series proceeds.
West Indies have been very disappointing with the bat. The batting line-up failed entirely. Known as one of the batting heavy sides of the modern era cricket, West Indies batsmen struggled poorly against the novice bowling attack of Pakistan. There were hardly any mentionable performances with the bat apart from a couple of scattered performances by Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels in different matches, which were not enough for West Indies to get to victory. The batting failed to act as a unit, which is a basic requirement and with experienced players failing consecutively, West Indies look to be neck-deep in trouble.
Contrary to that, Pakistan batting looked a lot more sorted. Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik — all the names who were expected to shine, played up to the mark taking their side to a comfortable series win. Their problem with the tumbling top-order also looks to be settled. Moreover, they will be confident about the fact that there are players in every position of the batting who can take up responsibilities and play match-winning knocks. However, something that Pakistan will look to overcome is their poor form in ODIs lately. While the team did well in Tests and the one-off T20I against England at the latter’s home, the ODI series was something they would like to forget soon. This is their chance to better their numbers in the format.
Subsequent to Pakistan’s good performance with bat, West Indies bowlers failed to produce any remarkable spell. Names like Suliemann Ben and Sunil Narine failed to live up to the expectations and will be expected to bounce back in the series.
Pakistan vs West Indies first ODI, Preview by Pramod Ananth: Pakistan take on West Indies in the first One-Day International (ODI) at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Pakistan completed a 3-0 whitewash over West Indies in the three-match T20I series. They will look to put up a similar show in the ODI series. Pakistan will be led by Azhar Ali in this series and they will look to put up a better show in this series after losing 4-1 to England in their previous. The Sarfraz Ahmed-led T20I side have given Pakistan the momentum going into the series. Azhar was under fire after the big loss in England and will look to make amends in this series.
West Indies have quite a few new faces in the squad. The likes of Alzarri Joseph, Kraigg Brathwaite and Evin Lewis are the only ones to make an ODI debut. Although Brathwaite is an established Test player, he is yet to make his limited-overs debut for the West Indies. Carlos Brathwaite will be relieved of his T20I captaincy duties and Jason Holder will takeover the responsibilities. West Indies are coming off the back of a good show in the tri-nation series, which also featured Australia and South Africa. West Indies made it to the final, but lost to Australia. Nevertheless, their ODI form has been much better than their Test form and will not be pushovers in this format.
Pakistan welcome back Yasir Shah, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Rizwan, Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali into their ODI squad. Pakistan also welcome Umar Akmal back into the team. Akmal has not played a single ODI since playing against Australia in the ICC World Cup 2015. Imad Wasim was in stupendous form in the T20I series, finishing with nine wickets. He was easily Pakistan’s best bowler in the T20I series and is slowly turning out to be a dependable all-rounder. He proved his worth with the bat in the series against England, where he remained unbeaten throughout the series.
This three-ODI series is extremely crucial for both the teams. The road to secure an automatic qualification for the ICC World 2019 begins now. Pakistan are currently at ninth position and West Indies are just one place above them at eighth. The cut-off date for automatic qualification is September 30, 2017, which means after this series, Pakistan have the series against Australia, New Zealand and of course the Champions Trophy next year in England to ensure that they make it to top 8.
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West Indies have not qualified for the Champions Trophy 2017 in England. However, after this series against Pakistan, they play a tri-nation series featuring Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in the African nation, followed by ODI series against England at home and West Indies also go to England, where they pay a five-match ODI series. All this before September 30. It may eventually come down to the wire to determine which team makes it directly to the World Cup. The team that does not make it through may get another chance through the qualifiers.
Coming back to this series, it is the West Indies, who have been slightly better when it comes to form in this format, while Pakistan have not had a good outing. But, considering Pakistan will be playing in familiar conditions, they should be able to have a much better series than they had against England. West Indies will be hungry to bounce back in this series, after having gone down meekly in the T20I series.
The pitch at Sharjah is expected to be a slow, turning track – something that Pakistan can benefit from. But West Indies too have a couple of quality spinners. Sunil Narine, Sulieman Benn and Ashley Nurse will be West Indies’ spinners in this series and might be handful in the matches. Narine did not have a particularly good T20I series by his standards. There is however little doubt over his caliber.
We could see one or two West Indies players making their debuts on Friday. Like Pakistan, West Indies too will want to get their bid to make it to the World Cup up and running on a winning note. If they fail to do so, like former West Indies Jeffrey Dujon said, it will be very “embarrassing”.
This match could once again be decided on how the spinners go about things. If the spinners in either sides bowl to their potential, they should be able to keep the scoring in check.
Squads
Pakistan : Azhar Ali (c), Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Aamer, Umar Akmal, Hasan Ali, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Asad Shafiq
West Indies: Jason Holder (c), Johnson Charles, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Jonathan Carter, Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse, Alzarri Joseph, Sulieman Benn, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shannon Gabriel
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry.com. He is a sport enthusiast and a keen observer of cricket, the contests, and its personalities. When not tracking cricket, he follows the world’s soccer leagues and is somewhat partial towards Liverpool. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
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