Stats preview: 1st Quarter-final - Pakistan vs West Indies

Shahid Afridi has starred with the ball for Pakistan in this World Cup © Getty Images

 

By Dileep V

 

Pakistan and West Indies square up in the first quarter-final of the 2011 ICC World Cup on Wednesday at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, on Wednesday. Pakistan made it to the knock-out stage by topping the group, which included a morale-boosting win over Australia. West Indies, on the other hand, had to rely on South Africa’s victory over Bangladesh to ensure their passage into the quarters.

 

Head to head

 

West Indies have a 64-48 win-loss record against Pakistan. But in the last decade they have lost 16 of the 24 played between the two nations.

In World Cups, the two teams have met eight times with West Indies winning six times and Pakistan twice. They met each other in the group stages of the previous World Cup at Kingston, where West Indies won the match by 54 runs. The loss, coupled with Ireland’s victory over them, meant Pakistan crashed out of the Group stages for the second successive time in World Cup.

Matches

Pak win

WI win

No Result
Overall

 

114

48

64

0
In Neutral Venues

 

68

30

38

0
In World Cup

 

8

2

6

0
Since 2000

24

16

8

0

 

Batting is main area of concern for both teams

 

Both Pakistan and West Indies have struggled with the bat in this tournament. None of the Pakistan players have scored a century and they have only eight half centuries to show for their efforts. Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has struggled in this tournament scoring just 65 runs in six matches at an average of just above 10.

 

Pakistan batsmen in this World Cup

 

Player

Inns

Runs

Avg

SR

HS

100s/50s
Umar Akmal

5

211

52.75

83.73

71

0/1
Misbah-ul-Haq

5

192

48.00

73.84

83*

0/2
Younis Khan

6

172

34.40

75.10

72

0/2
Kamran  Akmal

5

141

28.20

71.93

55

0/1
A Shafiq

2

124

124.00

69.66

78*

0/1
M Hafeez

6

111

18.50

78.16

49

0/0

Barring Devon Smith and to an extent Kieron Pollard, none of the Windies batsmen have shown consistency. Darren Bravo started off very well with a Brian Lara-like 73 against South Africa, but has since failed. Ramnaresh Sarwan has not capitalized on the starts he has got, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul was dropped from the playing 11, after scoring just 70 runs in four games.

Windies batsmen in this World Cup

 

Player

Inns

Runs

Avg

SR

HS

100s/50s
Devon Smith

6

293

48.83

77.71

107

1/2
Kieron Pollard

5

179

35.80

158.40

94

0/2
Chris Gayle

4

162

54.00

95.29

80

0/1
Darren Bravo

6

139

27.80

72.03

73

0/1
R Sarwan

5

131

26.20

63.28

49

0/0

 

Afridi leads the chart

 

Afridi and Umar Gul have done consistently well as bowlers. Afridi has two five wicket hauls in this tournament and can be dangerous against the Windies, who are suspect against spin. Pacer Shoaib Akhtar has taken only three wickets and was blasted apart by Ross Taylor in the group match. The left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman has also struggled getting three wickets at a high average of 66.33

 

Pakistan bowlers in this World Cup

 

Player

Inns

Wkts

Avg

SR

Econ

BB
S Afridi

6

17

11.47

19.4

3.54

5/16
U Gul

6

13

14.61

21.0

4.17

3/30
M Hafeez

6

5

28.60

42.0

4.08

1/11
A Razzaq

6

4

35.75

48.0

4.46

2/8
W Riaz

3

3

27.66

35.6

4.65

1/21

 

For the West Indies, Kemar Raoch and Suleiman Benn have been the stand out bowlers. Roach has 13 wickets at an average of 12 and more importantly gets a wicket every three overs. His 6 for 27 against Netherlands is the best bowling analysis in this World Cup till now. Benn, aided by his two four wicket hauls, has 12 wickets in the tournament. What’s worrying for the Windies is that their bowlers have done well against the Associates but have come cropper against the bigger sides.

 

Chasing is the best option at Mirpur

 

The Shere Bangla Stadium has hosted 46 matches out of which 28 times teams chasing has won the match. The average score is 233, but under floodlights it shoots up to 269. In World Cups the average score is 250 and 240 in knock-out games.

 

(Dileep.V is a Scouser fan, Sports freak, Movie buff, Laggard Quizzer and dreams of setting foot on Anfield one day)
Pictures © Getty Images

(Dileep.V is a Scouser fan, Sports freak, Movie buff, Laggard Quizzer and dreams of setting foot on Anfield one day)