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Gros Islet, St Lucia, Jul 21: Hello and welcome for the 4th ODI between West Indies and Pakistan. The series is level 1-1 after 3 games. The last ODI was an absolute thriller. It ended in a tie. We stay at the same venue today as well. Hopefully, we will get to see some riveting action again. We will have to wait and see if there are any changes in the playing XI for this game. Stay tuned for the toss.
Pakistan have won the toss and elected to field
Dwayne Bravo: 'We are happy to bat first. We know the wicket here. Hopefully we try and get a good total on the board and restrict them. The batting unit has to do well today. If we don't apply ourselves on this wicket, we will land in trouble again. Devon Smith is in for Pollard. This is his first game in the series. Hopefully we will do well today.'
Misbah: 'We will bowl first. We will try and make use of the early moisture and look to get some early wickets and restrict them to a decent total. We are playing the same XI.'
Teams:
Pakistan (Playing XI): Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal(w), Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan
West Indies (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles(w), Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo(c), Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Sunil Narine, Jason Holder
Match preview :
The balance of an ODI team is usually this: six batsmen, one wicket keeper batsman and four bowlers. India, Australia, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka are the top five teams in the world and it is no coincidence that all these teams consist of six specialist batsmen, one wicket keeper, who can bat, and four specialist bowlers.
Some batsmen are required to turn their arm and bowl a few overs, some a full quota of ten, but their primary job is to make runs; they are the batting all-rounders. Some bowlers are expected to use the willow and score valuable runs but their primary job is to take wickets and maintain the economy rate; they are the bowling all-rounders. However, the golden ODI combination remains a 6-1- 4, where a couple of them are multi-skilled, the batting or bowling all-rounders.
Pakistan too uses a similar combination but has long been a victim of ‘the batting all-rounder delusion’. In other words, they have looked for runs where the probability of getting them has been either low or on the decline.
Amongst the top six specialist batsmen is vice-captain Mohammad Hafeez. He opens the innings or bats at number three, spots reserved for the best; Virat Kohli, Kumar Sangakara, Hashim Amla and Jonathan Trott play the role for their respective countries. Hafeez averages 27.21 with the bat and has never been ranked in the top thirty batsmen in his career. However, in 2012 he was ranked as the number one ODI bowler in the world. He is also currently ranked as the second best all-rounder in the game. But, he is not a batting all-rounder, he is a bowling one. Hafeez is indispensable for Pakistan as long as he is maintaining his bowling form.
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