Pakistan Vs West Indies  1st April 2014 Group 2 Match Preview  –  Head to head and Ground stats: 

This will be the first time that these two teams will be facing each other in a T20 WC game. At the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, which is the venue for this game, Pakistan have won 3 T20Is and lost one while West Indies have a 3-2 win-loss record here.

Pakistan Vs West Indies

Cricket Timeline 

Squads:

 Pakistan

 Mohammad Hafeez (c), Ahmed Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Umar Gul, Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Talha, Junaid Khan.

West Indies

 Darren Sammy (c), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Andre Fletcher, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, Krishmar Santokie, Ravi Rampaul. Denesh Ramdin, Sheldon Cottrell.

Get to know more ………

Pakistan:

The Mohammad Hafeez-led side lost their opening game to India before coming up with fine performances against Australia and Bangladesh to keep their hopes alive. While they were completely out-played by their arch-rivals, Pakistan came back well in the following two games. They were under pressure against Australia while defending a big total but managed to hold their nerve in the end. Against Bangladesh, it was a clinical showing from the Pakistan side as they overwhelmed their Asian rivals by a big margin.

Thanks to two big knocks from Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad, Pakistan posted hefty totals in their matches against Australia and Bangladesh. Even in their not-so-impressive showing against India, Umar and Shehzad were the ones to get off to decent starts, but they failed to convert it. Against Australia, Umar Akmal came unto his own, cracking a superb 94 while he received some solid support from his brother Kamran. Shehzad became the first centurion in T20Is for Pakistan when he came up with an unbeaten 111 against Bangladesh, and the opener was supported well by Shoaib Malik. In both these matches, Shahid Afridi came up with blistering cameos, enabling Pakistan post 191 and 190 respectively. They will be expecting a solid performance from their batters again, while they will also hope for their skipper, who has not done much yet, to come to the party.

In the bowling department, Umar Gul has been in good wicket-taking form while Saeed Ajmal and Afridi have also been picking up some scalps. While Gul went for some runs in Pakistan’s opening game, he did a lot better in the next two matches and reaped the benefits. Zulfiqar Babar, who replaced Junaid Khan, has also done reasonably well in the two matches he has played so far. Pakistan do not have much to worry about as far as bowling is concerned and will be hoping for the bowlers to continue their good work.

West Indies:

The Caribbean team too lost their opening game against India before securing victories against Bangladesh and Australia to land up in this do-or-die clash. After an average showing against the Group 2 table-toppers, West Indies managed to beat the hosts by a comfortable fashion. Their best showing came against Australia – the Caribbean team pulled off their highest successful chase and their celebrations after that was proof of how driven they were to prove a point to the chirpy Aussies.

Chris Gayle has scored 34, 48 and 53 in his three innings so far in this tournament. However, the big-hitting left-hander has hardly been his destructive self. He struggled to get going in the first two matches and despite notching up a half-century in the next, he slowed down a lot after an aggressive start. Dwayne Smith hit a half-century against Bangladesh, but fell without making a substantial contribution in the other two games. Lendl Simmons got off to good starts in a couple of games but failed to make it big while Marlon Samuels has not done anything note-worthy with the bat either. While Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo’s efforts to help West Indies pull off a thriller against Australia, need to be commended, they too have have not done much apart from that. West Indies need a solid performance from the top-order, going up against a quality bowling attack.

Samuel Badree has been the pick of the West Indian bowlers as he has done most of the damage while Kris Santokie, Sunil Narine and Samuels have also been providing timely strikes. Narine has been the most economical of the lot while Santokie and Badree have also kept things tight. Andre Russell has been pegging away and has supported the rest of the bowlers. West Indies will be slightly concerned with the bowling form of Bravo, who has gone for a few runs and has picked up only one wicket so far. Skipper Sammy has not bowled much in this tournament, and he needs to hit the right lines in case he has to bowl a few overs.

It will be make or break for both Pakistan and West Indies in the last game of the league stage, which will be a virtual quarter-final with the winner set to proceed to the next round along with India from Group 2.