ICC World Cup 2019: Match 2, Windies vs Pakistan - Match Preview

The second match of the ICC World Cup 2019 will witness Pakistan and Windies go up against each other on May 31 (Friday) at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Both the sides didn’t have a good time leading to this tie and will hope for a good start in the tournament.

Sarfraz Ahmed & Co went down 4-0 against England going into the marquee event. The batsmen have put runs on the scoreboard; however, it is their bowlers who have failed to live up to the expectations. They need to pull up their socks if Pakistan want to go deep in the tournament. They have the quality needed to change their future, and the management will hope that they come out as a unit and back each other to make a winning start in the tournament. Imam-ul-Haq, who took a blow during the series against England, has regained fitness and will be available for selection.

Also read: ICC World Cup 2019: Kevin Pietersen Picks Transformed England and India as his Favourites

On the other hand, Windies stunned New Zealand, beating them in the last warm-up game. The likes of Chris Gayle and Andre Russell have been in form which will be a massive advantage for the team from the Caribbean. Besides, Shai Hope’s emergence as a batsman will also keep the team in high stead. However, they will want their bowlers to stand up and deliver and, in the process, back their batsmen to do well in the World Cup. Jason Holder & Co can certainly turn out to be darkhorse in the 12th edition of the World Cup.

Date and Venue: May 31 (Friday) from 3:00 PM, at Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Predicted XI

Windies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Jason Holder (c), Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell, Ashley Nurse.

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Hafeez, Asif Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed (c & wk), Shadab Khan, Hassan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Shaheen Afridi.

Also read: ICC World Cup 2019: Sunil Gavaskar Reveals his Favourites to Win the Trophy

Head to Head in World Cup

Statistical Preview

i) Experienced Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik has taken 96 catches in ODI career, and he needs to take four more catches to complete his 100 ODI catches. After Younis Khan (131 catches), Shahid Afridi (127 catches) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (113 catches), Malik will be the fourth Pakistan non-wicketkeeper to take 100 ODI catches.

ii) It will be the 50th ODI match for the right-arm pacer Hasan Ali.

iii)  The left-handed opening batsman Chris Gayle has already scored 944 runs in Cricket World Cup. With 56 more runs, he will complete 1,000 runs in World Cup. Among the Windies batsmen, only Brian Lara (1,225 runs) and Sir Viv Richards (1,013 runs) have scored 1,000 runs in World Cup history.

iv) The all-rounder Andre Russell has scored 998 ODI runs, and with two more runs, he will complete 1,000 ODI runs. Till the date, 10 Windies cricketers have scored 1,000 ODI runs as well as taken 50 or more ODI wickets too. The right-arm pacer Andre Russell has already picked up 65 ODI wickets.

Where to Watch

Star Sports will telecast the match live in India. On the other hand, the game will be seen live on Hotstar App.

Weather Forecast

The temperature will hover around 20-21 degrees Celsius. There will be significant cloud cover during the game time; however, there is no forecast of rain.

Also Read: ICC World Cup 2019: Match 2 – Windies vs Pakistan – Windies’ Predicted Playing XI, Analysis

 Pitch Conditions

Trent Bridge in recent times has produced flat wickets best-suited for the batsman. However, with overcast skies, the seamers can extract some advantage with the new ball.

Match Prediction

Pakistan will have the records by their side going into this match having won five of the last six encounters. However, the previous victory came almost two years ago. Meanwhile, Pakistan have lost their last ten matches leading to this game mainly due to their weak link in the bowling attack.

On the other hand, this is a very different Windies side which have some clean hitters in Chris Gayle and Andre Russell, alongside Shai Hope. It will be an evenly-contested encounter, but Pakistan will have some advantage going into their World Cup opener.