Pool B: West Indies Vs Pakistan played Hagley Oval Christchurch
West Indies 310 /6 ( DR Ramadin 51 , LMP Simmons 59 , D Bravo 49 retired out , AD Russell 42 * MN Samuels 38, DJG Sammy 30 ) beat Pakistan 160 All Out ( Umer Akmal 59 ,Shoaib Maqsood 50 ,Shahid Afridi 28 , JE Taylor 3/15, A Russell 3/33< S Benn 2/ 39) by 150 Runs
Man of the Match: Andre Russell.
Hamstrung West Indies in the previous match by emerging Ireland West Indies brilliantly bounced back against pathetic Pakistan crushing them to an ignominious defeat of 150 runs in a thoroughly one-sided match at Christchurch Saturday. With two defeats in as many matches Pakistan’s mission in this world cup is all but over. They have to play South Africa, giant killer Ireland, Ziambabwe and UAE. Pakistan will have to win three out of four and with a good NRR to have any possibility of getting through. West Indies on the other hand with this massive win after a shocking defeat in the first match against Ireland in the first match brightened their possibility of advancing to quarter final.
Misbah put West Indies into bat. His pacers rewarded him with immediate success removing both the openers Gayle and Smith by 8th over with only 28 runs on board. But from then on all West Indians contributed in a major team effort. Bravo did the anchor role before getting struck and retiring. Samuels with Bravo steadied the ship which was ably piloted by Ramadin, Simmons and Sammy. Finally Andre Russell with fearsome hitting (42 in only 13 deliveries) took the score to impressive 310 for 6. Only Gayle missed out. Other than him all the 7 batsmen scored between 23 and 51. Only Ramadin (51) and Simmons (50) scored half centuries.
Pakistan coming into bat had immediate Tsunami strike. Taylor and Holder struck four deadly blows with only 1 runs on the board. Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan and Harris Sohail could not open the account, Shehzad scored only 1. When this happens in an ODI while chasing a 300+ target no team can recover. Moreover, this Pakistan team has only handful world class batsmen. The Pakistan resistance got further dented when reliable Misbah also got out for 7. Two youngsters Shoaib Maqsood and Umar Akmal tried their best to salvage. But even their best was way too short in the context of the situation. Their efforts in the 7th wicket added 80 runs before Shoaib got out scoring exactly 50. Umar Akmal joined by boom boom (now only good enough for a quick 20) tried for a while. But ultimately West Indies could wrap up Pakistan innings for 160 runs gaining an impressive 150 runs win. With two heavy defeats in two matches Pakistan is really looking down the barrel with the danger of getting early knocked out looming. West Indies on the other hand appears to have recovered well from the shock defeat by Ireland. Taylor broke the backbone of Pakistan batting while Andre Russell put knife through late middle order resistance. It will be nice for a Caribbean flavor going deep into business session of this tournament. There will be a possibility of witnessing at least one Gayle gale in the tournament at some stage.
Ramiz Raza behaved strangely the other day while commentating in the Bangladesh Afghanistan match. He could not digest wonderful Bangladesh performance. But we Bangladeshis can only sympathize at the pitiable plights of poor Pakistan performance. Perhaps India and West Indies has shown them the door of exit Hope Ramiz will be more careful when he appears in commentary again.
BDST: 1312 HRS, FEB 21, 2015
