Just over two weeks after finishing their tour of England, Pakistan are back in coloured clothing on Friday when they go up against the West Indies in the first of three T20 internationals between the two over the next week.
This first match comes from Dubai and with a series of ODIs to follow these games both teams will be going out to put a marker down for the month of cricket ahead. West Indies are world champions in this format while Pakistan are always dangerous so this should be a good little series.
Pakistan
We saw just how dangerous Pakistan are in this format at Old Trafford earlier in the month when they took England to the cleaners. Sarfraz Ahmed skippered the side well in that game and Pakistan had a real intent and brutality with the bat. They need to make sure they play with the same intent with the bat here.
We know all about them with the ball and if anything they may well be stronger in that department in this match with the Dubai conditions probably suiting them better than a pretty flat deck in Manchester did. Their spinners should come into their own much more too.
West Indies
Since the West Indies won the World T20 in India earlier in the year they have only played two T20s. They were both against India earlier in the year where they won an epic and then got thrashed in the other so they will be looking to find some consistency to take into the future with them particularly given that they are under new leadership.
If there is a concern for this West Indian side it is that they can leak plenty of runs so it will be interesting to see if the dry conditions allow their spinners to take control or whether they continue to be expensive. If they are expensive they know they have the runs in their ranks to rescue them.
Team News
Pakistan have brought the in form Umar Akmal back into their squad and he is expected to start this game despite the resounding win in England a couple of weeks ago. Khalid Latif is expected to feature once again.
West Indies are without their lynchpins Chris Gayle and Andre Russell for this series and Lendl Simmons will miss this match as well. Rovman Powell and Nicholas Pooran are pushing for debuts in the middle order.
Dubai International Cricket Stadium
This ground will host the first two matches in the series. The first game will be the 35th T20 international to have been held here. Pakistan have played in 19 past matches here with mixed success. They have eight wins and 10 losses with a tie. West Indies will play here for the first time this weekend.
The wicket has offered up mixed scores in the past. The scores are either very low or very high. There doesn’t appear to be a middle ground really. With two matches here in as many days you would think the same wicket will be used for both so I’m expecting a pretty decent deck for this first game.
Betting
There are two bets I like in the match although I’m leaving the match outcome alone until we’ve seen the sides and the conditions and things. The first bet is on the sixes where a 9.5 line looks low.
When England played here last year there were 16 sixes and nine sixes in the two matches and with the West Indies being a bigger hitting side than England and Pakistan having opened up their batting line up to include a couple of power hitters that line doesn’t look high enough. I’m confident we’ll see 10 sixes in this one to open the series.
The other bet I like comes in the form of Dwayne Bravo and his performance. His line is at 38.5 and it is rare we get such an impactful all-rounder with a line under 40. He can cover this with the bat and the ball so I’m surprised the line is so low. It is very rare that Bravo is out of the game. Not only will be offer something in the middle order and with the ball but he remains a dynamite fielder so I’ll go over the 38.5 line.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back it here:
WON – Back D.Bravo’s Performance – Over 38.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
pak win