ICC Cricket World Cup – West Indies v Pakistan Preview - Maverick vs Madness

As the World Cup gets underway with England pummelling the Proteas to submission by 104 runs in the opening game of the 2019 World Cup at the Kennington Oval in London.

The scene now moves on to the second game at Trent Bridge at Nottingham between two sides who probably themselves do not know which side of the bed they have woken up till the first ball of a game involving them is bowled.

Pakistan and West Indies are probably not even counted as serious contenders for this world cup which probably makes them to be the most dangerous teams that opponents should be wary off. While one expects certain intensity from opponents such as England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa; the Men in Green and the Men in Maroon are the parcelled box which opponents cannot predict whether they will go boom or bust

Once upon a time in the 90’s considered as a marquee contest between potential world cup winners, both the teams have traversed their own journey’s over the last twenty years, having gone through crests and troughs with respect to cricketing emotions, but still continue to generate hysteria and optimism amongst their fans even today as they did twenty years back. While the West Indies have entered the tournament as a rejuvenated side with the returns of mavericks such as Chris Gayle and Andre Russel, Pakistan retain their own element of madness and logic defying stances by having picked up veterans such as Wahab Riaaz and Mohammed Amir from cold storage. While West Indies promises the Caribbean Swagger of old with the new brood of Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer being torchbearers, Pakistan have unearthed an unpolished gem in the form of Babar Azam whose probably touted as the next big thing in the Pakistan batting set up.

Since the end of the 2015 World Cup, both the sides have caught their opponents dumbfounded in major ICC events (West Indies in the World T20 2016 and Pakistan in the Champion’s Trophy 2017). On a head to head basis, the men from the Caribbean Islands enjoy an upper hand against the 1992 World cup champions having won 7 out of 10 encounters since their first encounter since 1975. In their last 4 encounters since the 1999 world cup, both the teams have won two games each.

With little to choose between two grossly unpredictable teams, the encounter at Nottingham promises to be a quirky thriller. Both the teams are known to make oppositions plan redundant with their flair and fervour. So let us sit back and enjoy this battle between THE Green Madness and the Maroon Mavericks.

West Indies Squad: Jason Holder ©, Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas

Pakistan Squad: Sarfaraz Ahmed ©, Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz

©Cricket World 2019