West Indies switch back from the ODI format to the T20 one on Wednesday when they play host to Pakistan in the first of what are now just four matches in the short form with both sides looking to continue their preparation for the upcoming World T20.
Pakistan head to the Caribbean having just run the finalists of the last tournament close and now they’ll pit their wits against the champions. West Indies have just routed Australia and will be hoping to do similar to Pakistan.
West Indies
This will be a different test for West Indies than the one they faced from Australia. That was an Australian side who were missing key players and couldn’t play spin if their life depended on it. This is a strong Pakistan side who can play spin and perhaps more importantly have been playing cricket coming into this tour which Australia hadn’t been doing. We might get a better feel for how good the chances of West Indies making a successful defence of their title later in the year are here.
The other issue West Indies will have here is the three ODIs that have been played at the Kensington Oval were all low scoring on pitches that were hard to bat on. They are traditionally best when they can hit through the line of the ball but if those ODIs are anything to go by that won’t be possible here. That means they might need their bowlers to get them through because West Indies don’t rotate the strike enough to put up a sizeable total.
Pakistan
Although they lost to England last week, Pakistan will have taken some confidence away from that series. They weren’t a million miles away from beating England, with just England’s batting depth getting the better of them in the final match of the series. It might be that the same thing happens here with West Indies but at least Pakistan know what they are up against having faced similar from England recently.
If there was an issue for Pakistan in that series it was with their bowling attack but conditions out in the Caribbean are likely to suit them more than the ones in England did. Although the Pakistan batting has improved immeasurably since the Pakistan Super League has gone to the next level, you still don’t fancy them to win many shootouts with the bat purely because of a lack of depth. If there is a bit in the pitch where the likes of Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez can use their skills it will help Pakistan.
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Team News
Kieron Pollard missed the T20s against Australia through injury but he is expected to return here. Obed McCoy and Fidel Edwards had their injury issues through that series as well but they appear to be fit to begin this one.
Pakistan have one or two decisions to make for the make up of their bowling attack. Usman Qadir went round the park in England but three spinners here might be the best way to go. If he isn’t picked then Mohammad Hasnain could play.
Betting
The runs line for this one feels a little on the high side at 315.5 based on what we’ve seen in the ODIs here. Before we saw those ODIs you’d have expected a high scoring series on what is usually a good Barbados track but the pitches have turned and been very sluggish over the last week or so and given that they last ODI was on Monday night there hasn’t been much time for that to change ahead of these T20 matches.
That doesn’t mean that someone can’t go bonkers for West Indies but they won’t have the ideal pitches that their batters prefer. To contrast that, West Indies have some good spinners and a couple of bowlers adept in taking the pace off the ball in the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Obed McCoy. Pakistan have bowlers who can excel in these conditions as well so the thought of both sides scoring close to 160 doesn’t feel right to me. I like the under here.
Tips
Back Under 315.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
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