Posted:
Day 1: West Indies Vs Pakistan
Ground: Sabina Park
West Indies (likely) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Corey Collymore.
Pakistan (likely) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Imran Nazir, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 9 Yasir Arafat, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Umar Gul.
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So finally, after a four year long wait, the ninth World Cup gets underway with the hosts West Indies playing one of the most exciting teams of world cricket - Pakistan - a great prospect to a fitting start of a tournament that is every cricketer's dream!
As much as exciting, the Pakistan team holds the distinction of being the most unpredictable team... We have seen numerous ocassions in the past where they have just collapsed when not expected to... And other times, where they have just bludgeoned through!
West Indies, are not too different... They hold some of the biggest names of World Cricket - the likes of Lara, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Gayle, Samuels - all match winners... On their day, they can be a delight to watch... But just as we saw in the warm up match against India, they can go down without a fight very unnoticed at times...
My Pick: The strength of West Indies is their batting... They lack bowling very dearly... They just dont have enough firepower... Pakistan have a well balanced side - batting is good, players in form... Bowling - despite the loss of Shoaib and Mohammad Asif, they have enough stock in Umar Gul, Md Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sami - who can bother the opposition... I would have to pick Pak for this match... The best chance that WI have is - bat first, put 300+ on board, and put pressure on Pak...
I predict these players to do well today:
Pak: Md Hafeez, Umar Gul, Younis Khan
WI: Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo
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Ground: Sabina Park
West Indies (likely) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Corey Collymore.
Pakistan (likely) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Imran Nazir, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 9 Yasir Arafat, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Umar Gul.
**************
So finally, after a four year long wait, the ninth World Cup gets underway with the hosts West Indies playing one of the most exciting teams of world cricket - Pakistan - a great prospect to a fitting start of a tournament that is every cricketer's dream!
As much as exciting, the Pakistan team holds the distinction of being the most unpredictable team... We have seen numerous ocassions in the past where they have just collapsed when not expected to... And other times, where they have just bludgeoned through!
West Indies, are not too different... They hold some of the biggest names of World Cricket - the likes of Lara, Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Gayle, Samuels - all match winners... On their day, they can be a delight to watch... But just as we saw in the warm up match against India, they can go down without a fight very unnoticed at times...
My Pick: The strength of West Indies is their batting... They lack bowling very dearly... They just dont have enough firepower... Pakistan have a well balanced side - batting is good, players in form... Bowling - despite the loss of Shoaib and Mohammad Asif, they have enough stock in Umar Gul, Md Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sami - who can bother the opposition... I would have to pick Pak for this match... The best chance that WI have is - bat first, put 300+ on board, and put pressure on Pak...
I predict these players to do well today:
Pak: Md Hafeez, Umar Gul, Younis Khan
WI: Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo
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