Pakistan were bowled out by the West Indies bowlers within 105 in the second match of ICC Cricket World Cup. It was certainly a strong performance from West Indies and now all the top guns would start to take them as a serious contender for the World Cup. Was it the brilliance of the bowlers of West Indies or the weakness of the Pakistani batsmen? We will discuss about it in this article.
The captain of West Indies, Jason Holder won an important toss and decided to bowl first to use the overcast English condition at Trent Bridge. Trent Bridge used to known as the ground of making plenty of runs. The average score in this ground is pretty high too, which is a well known fact. In this circumstances, Pakistan came to bat to put a competitive total on the board.
From the beginning their opener, Imam-ul-Haq was not looking in touch. Simon Cottrell was getting the expected swing from the pitch and he got Imam in the second over of his spell. However, Fakhar Zaman was trying to play his natural cricket despite losing Imam in the third over of the match as Jason Holder was not getting the rhythm at the beginning.
Holder brought Andre Russell in the bowling attack at the sixth over. Fakhar Zaman failed to handle his bouncer and the ball hit the stumps. Russell kept the pressure in his next over too. Babar Azam and Haris Sohail were trying to pull off the initial scare. However, Haris Sohail went to the pavilion in the third over of Andre Russell. After that it was a show of Oshane Thomas as he took 4 wickets in quick succession for West Indies. There were no resistance shown by the Pakistani batsmen against the West Indies bowling lineup.
Pakistan put up a total of 105 in the board. West Indies chased this run within 14 overs. The only positives that Pakistan can take from this match will be three wickets that were taken by Mohamed Amir. Gayle scored a fifty from 34 balls and a quick fire 34 from 19 balls of Nicholas Pooran helped them to win the match with ease.
The absence of the experienced all rounder Shoaib Malik in the starting eleven of Pakistan played a big role in their huge defeat against West Indies. After losing 2-3 quick wickets, Pakistan needed one partnership that could have given them the hope to make a comeback in the match. However, there were no experience in the lower middle order of Pakistan and that was the main reason of their downfall in this match.
Pakistan have lost all their last 12 matches in one day cricket. However, in the series against England, they used to score 340+ runs. If Pakistan have to score these sorts of runs in every matches, one of their top three batsmen should score a century and others should support him through out the whole innings. There are lot to be discussed in the dressing room of Pakistan and they need to sort out things quickly to make a comeback in the tournament.
