Pakistan vs West Indies, ICC World Cup 2011 first quarter final today

Pakistan have more than one reason to be riding high on confidence, going into the first World Cup quarter- final against the West Indies here on Wednesday. Shahid Afridi’s team defeated defending champions Australia in their final league game to enter the second stage on a confident note. The other aspect that gives Pakistan an edge is their recent head- to- head record against the Windies, though their exchanges have lately been very infrequent.


Even in normal circumstances, Afridi is always assured of himself. And on Tuesday, the hard- hitting batsman, who is interestingly the competition’s leading bowler currently, was oozing self- belief. He can afford to be bullish, especially after Pakistan’s four- wicket win over Australia. That is one reason why he clearly said that he would persist with the winning combination against the West Indies.

For Afridi, sentiments and emotions count for little when he is on the field. He is not moved even when it comes to senior fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who has announced his retirement after the World Cup. Akhtar wasn’t played in the Australia game following his arguments with wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal in an earlier game, leading to a fine (and the incident may have contributed to his decision to retire), and his skipper effectively dashed his hopes of playing in the quarters.

In other words, if Pakistan lose to the West Indies, the league match against New Zealand would turn out be Akhtar’s last of his 163 ODIs.

But Afridi is focussing on the team rather than individuals. And that is why he insisted that he would be happy to retain the XI that earned that morale- boosting win over Australia, though that result did not have any bearing on both teams’ qualification for quarter- finals. The winner of this game will play the team that emerges from the India- Australia quarterfinal encounter to be played in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

West Indies, at the other end, have looked tentative so far and are fresh from a defeat suffered at the hands of India. They must be low on confidence after failing to capitalise on India’s batting collapse as their own batting disintegrated under pressure.

So, captain Darren Sammy has a few problems to resolve before the big day- night encounter at Sher- e- Bangla Stadium. Consistency, from both batsmen and bowlers, is what he would be expecting on Wednesday.

Sammy said paceman Kemar Roach and batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle, who all missed the India game, were fit and in contention for the crucial game. While Roach and Gayle have recovered from injuries, out- of- form Chanderpaul may be included considering the significance of the contest.

Interestingly, Pakistan and the West Indies have played each other sporadically in the recent past. They didn’t play a single ODI last year, and their last game was exactly 18 months, in the Champions Trophy in South Africa, where Pakistan won.