Pakistan vs West Indies

Pakistan cruised to an opening win over the West Indies in the first ODI on Friday and they head into the second match on Sunday knowing full well that a win would secure another series with a match to spare having done exactly the same in the T20s recently.

West Indies go to into this second game in Sharjah knowing that they will level the series with a win and set up a decider next week but a defeat and that is two of the three disciplines they have been found wanting in.

Pakistan

You could be forgiven for worrying about what was to come for Pakistan when they lost their captain Azhar Ali to the opening ball of the first game but their young batsmen stood up and were counted and long term that might just be the best thing to have happened for Pakistan. The test for the entire unit is to back that up regularly.

With the ball there is rarely any question marks over Pakistan but they are always going to dominate if you don’t go after them and get on top of them and make them come away from their relentless line and length. Imad Wasim is proving quite the find in the spin department which is ideal here too.

West Indies

Nothing seems to be going right for the West Indies at the minute. They haven’t bowled particularly well as a unit in any match on the tour so far but their batting has been awful and unless that changes I’m expecting much of the same for the foreseeable future on this tour.

Conditions certainly don’t help the West Indies when it comes to their batting but the lack of a thoughtful approach or the nous to try something different has been particularly disappointing and will have to change if the West Indies are to move up the rankings because they can’t just rely on home wins.

Team News

Umar Akmal is chomping at the bit to get into this Pakistan ODI team once again but off the back of a near perfect performance in the first match we’re not expecting Pakistan to make any changes unless there is an undisclosed or last minute injury.

West Indies have to change the top of their order I would think. To have a couple of stroke makers getting stuck and not helping out Johnson Charles isn’t working and their middle order can’t play quality spin well enough to bail them out. Evin Lewis is an obvious man to come into the side.

Betting

With this match being played at the same venue as the first game we should expect a more tired wicket and square and more assistance for the spinners which has to play into the hands of Pakistan.

Pakistan are a little short to win the match though so I’m going to head to the side markets where a bet I like comes in the form of the total wickets which has a low line at 15.5 and a tasty odds against price too.

19 wickets fell in the opening match of the series and while West Indies have all sorts of shortcomings with the bat they do have wicket taking bowlers and I’m expecting them to get into this Pakistan batting line up especially if Pakistan bat first. At odds against that line looks solid to me given that Pakistan still aren’t completely convincing with the bat in this format.

Tips

Back Over 15.5 wickets for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with Coral

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