Pakistan set to test young guns in T20 battle against West Indies
KARACHI: The three-match Twenty20 International series couldn’t have provided a stark contrast to what had gone by last week when the National Stadium here in Karachi hosted the Pakistan Super League final amidst stringent security.
Pakistan are now hosting West Indies at the same venue in back-to-back fixtures from Sunday onward in near inconspicuousness with the 13-man touring squad being only officially announced on Friday afternoon.
The tourists were scheduled to arrive in the city via Dubai by two different Emirates flights with the first batch slated to land around at 9:05pm on Saturday and the other at 1:15am.
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Due to security reasons, West Indies are unwilling to prolong their stay here and would be heading to the airport straightaway from the stadium after Tuesday’s third and final fixture.
From the hosts’ perspective these are exciting times for the likes of Hussain Talat, Asif Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi to carve a niche for themselves if the opportunities to blood them arise as Sarfraz Ahmed braces to lead his country for the first time in his hometown, while aiming to maintain Pakistan’s top ranking in this format.
The Pakistan captain sounded pretty optimistic during the pre-series media conference just as his charges began their final practice session.
“Our foremost goal is to win the series and win it well because according to the latest permutations, we have to win all three matches to retain No. 1 spot in the ICC T20 team rankings. So there is no room for complacency as such from my viewpoint,” Sarfraz said.
“West Indies may look a bit weak on paper but in T20 cricket, one can’t take any team lightly and Pakistan will be have to play good cricket to beat them.
“Obviously, there is pressure on us but we have to be on our guard. Pressure is that we are playing at home and there is lot of excitement.”
However, the good news for Pakistan is that even a 2-1 series victory will help them retain top ranking but if the hosts sweep the series, they’ll will be four points clear of second-placed Australia, who are levelled with Pakistan on 130 points with the latter only ahead by a decimal point.
It is almost certain that Pakistan would give Asif his first taste of big time. Asif has the knack of striking it big. The 26-year-old right-hander from Faisalabad had a decent PSL for eventual champions Islamabad United and he could become the man to solve Pakistan’s chronic problem of finding a genuine power-hitter in lower order.
“Yeah, Asif is an exciting batsman and he’s a game-changer for sure. I would say that this is an opportunity for Asif as well as Hussain Talat to show their talent if the opportunities come their way. If they play well they could be considered for longer formats too,” Sarfraz remarked.
“If you look at our Pakistan team we have been selecting youngsters and trying to give them full chance. We will give full chance to Asif and Hussain and if there is a chance we will also use Shaheen Shah Afridi too.”
Sarfraz also indicated that he might be promoting himself up the order. “In the last T20 series I came up in the batting order and I hope I will try to do the same in this series. I did it in the later stages of the PSL with success.”
Shoaib Malik is the only survivor of the only T20 International Pakistan hosted previously when he led his side to a crushing 102-run victory against Bangladesh back in April 2008.
At a cursory glance, the makeup of the visiting team doesn’t instill a certain feeling trepidation in the Pakistan ranks as the world No.1 side prepares to continue their dominance against the West Indies, winning eight of the 11 matches played and six of the last seven since 2016.
With Chris Gayle — undeniably a household name in the world of T20 cricket purely for his tremendous six-hitting strength as the Jamaican veteran stands tied with New Zealand’s Martin Guptill at the top of the leaderboard with 103 sixes apiece in internationals, but way ahead of anyone else with a staggering 819 maximums in 323 matches of all levels — glaringly missing alongside a number of top players including regular West Indies T20 leader Carlos Brathwaite, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell.
Jason Mohammed — with just six T20 Internationals under his belt — has been put in charge of this depleted squad in which Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin and Samuel Badree stand out as notable inclusions while the Jamaican pair of 30-year-old all-rounder Andre McCarthy and 21-year-old fast bowler Odean Smith and 20-year-old Guyana paceman Keemo Paul are first-time selections.
While Badree didn’t get a single game for Islamabad in the 2018 PSL, Ramdin played only four fixtures for Lahore Qalandars in which the wicket-keeper/batsman mustered just 24 runs. Andre Fletcher, who played in the PSL last Sunday as did Chadwick Walton, scored 86 runs in five appearances for Peshawar Zalmi while Walton made 68 in five matches for Islamabad.
But remarkably, there is no representation in the squad from Barbados, the renowned Caribbean island that produced many a great of West Indies cricket, towered by Sir Garfield Sobers who to this day is rated as the greatest all-rounder to play the sport.
According to the schedule, the first match will begin at 8:00pm due to unspecified logistic issues pertaining to the broadcasters, while the remaining two fixtures would start at 7:30pm.
The ICC has already nominated ex-Australian batsman David Boon as the match referee for the series. The opening fixture would be officiated by Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza as on-field umpires with Ahmed Shahab monitoring TV replays before Shozab teams up with Ahmed, while Ahsan takes TV duties for game two. Aleem Dar and Ahsan are umpires for the Tuesday’s final game with Shozab acting as the TV umpire.
Teams (from):
PAKISTAN: Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Fahim Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hussain Talat, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Usman Khan Shinwari, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
WEST INDIES: Andre Fletcher, Chadwick Walton, Marlon Samuels, Jason Mohammed (captain), Denesh Ramdin, Rovman Powell, Rayad Emrit, Veerasammy Permaul, Odean Smith, Keemo Paul, Andre McCarthy, Samuel Badree, Kesrick Williams.
Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2018