Hosts West Indies will seek to gain revenge against tourists Pakistan when the two unpredictable teams renew a battle in Guyana after an almost two-year-long hiatus today at the National Stadium, Providence.
The last time these two teams met at the Providence Stadium, Pakistan won the 5-match ODI series 3-2. Following their unfortunate Champions Trophy result and mixed performances in the recently concluded Triangular series at home featuring India (who won) and Sri Lanka, the Caribbean boys will be looking to start this series with a win.
The West Indies are aiming to fire from the start with the big Chris Gayle, who will be playing his 250th ODI match, third behind Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The in-form Johnson Charles will have the responsibility at the top of the order with Gayle and then later behind the stumps.
The middle order boasts the likes of Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo, while team skipper Dwayne Bravo along with Darren Sammy and Keiron Pollard headline a list of dangerous world renowned allrounders.
The bowling unit consists of the three Bajan fast bowlers Kemar Roach, Tino Best and Jason Holder. ICC ODI ranked number one bowler Sunil Narine, will lead the slow bowling unit and with support from the consistent Samuels, who will be backed up by the military medium trio of Bravo, Sammy and Pollard.
Pakistan who are similar to the West Indies in terms of remodelling their team, have left out three experienced players, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat, while Shahid Afridi makes yet another ODI comeback.
Pakistan have in their arsenal three left-arm quicks, the giant 7 ft tall Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz. Class spinner Saeed Ajmal opened his account with a five-wicket haul on Thursday against Guyana in the warm-up game. Allrounders, Mohammad Hafeez and Afridi also provide options with the ball.
The batting department includes dangerous openers, Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed who showed signs of coming into form in the warm-up game, along with probable glove-man Umar Akmal, skipper Misbah ul-Haq, youngster Umar Amin, allrounders Afridi and Hafeez.
After showing good team work in the warm-up game the tourists will be seeking to continue their form in today’s match.
The West Indies will need to put their past performances behind them and look to get back to their winning ways in this all important series.
During a brief interview yesterday at the Providence Stadium, Gayle was pleased about the fact that he will be playing his 250th ODI match, saying that he would love to get a century on this occasion.
He added that the teams will use their good all-round departments which include, batting, bowling and fielding along with the conditions, while stating that the team will be looking out for support from the Guyanese people.
The match begins at 9 am and continues on Tuesday July 16, followed by the remaining ODIs played in St Lucia on July 19, 21 and 24.
