Day 1 Preview: WI Vs Pak

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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Edited by smallwonder - 17 years ago

hmmm maybe i dont rate any of paks bowlers they are not upto international standard, naved is in very poor form

This is gonna be a close game. Pakistan need a big score because their bowling attack is so depleted.

Good prediction Small Wonder.. 👏 👏 But Windies and Pakistan are kind of similar in one way.. When they have a good day, they can stamp any big team. But when they are facing a bad day, they can be trounced and beaten brutally.. 😭 😭

Hope windies and Pakistan play to their potential.. Windies might have got the right alarm after their devastating defeat to India in the Warm up Game..

Pakistan is surely going to miss the services of Shaoib, Asif and the allround skills of Raazaq..

This is surely going to be a tough contest, a great game to start the tournament with!!! 👏 👏 👏

Best of luck to both the teams. May the BEST on the day win... 😳

yeah .. gud luck to pakistan .. but i donno why Azhar mahmood is not in the team 😡 .. i think rana or yasir arfaat ki jaga azhar mehmood hona chaahiye tha .. wats wrong with the match selectors ... azhar mehmood is in a gud form he sud play ....... 😡 😡

Azhar Mahmood is a decent player. Good at bowling and good at batting. Useful player, I have seen him playing for Surrey a few times in the Twenty20.

i think he has had his time i cant believe that with some of the bowlers we have had and with the schools open we havent found replacements for wasim akram an waqar younis, i tought with anything we would always have decent bowlers

Most probably Rana will b dropped and Rao will play along with Sami, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria~ coz Rao bowled very well in the warm up match....
I hope Pakistan's opening pair clicks this time...Hafeez is in good touch but not Imran!
It is the same pitch on which Kaneria took 8 wickets and won the match for Pak 2yrs back against WI!!!! 😛

ALL THE BEST TO PAKISTAN!!!

thnkx 4 sharin...i cant say anything bout this match maaan..anything can happen