Pakistan take on the West Indies in the second match of the ICC ODI World Cup at Trent Bridge on Friday.
Pakistan come into the match, having lost their last 10 ODI matches. Pakistan lost a ODI series to Australia 5-0, while England blanked them 4-0. Sarfaraz Ahmed's side also lost their World Cup warm-up match to Afghanistan by three wickets last week.
Ahmed is leading a virtually new Pakistan side to the World Cup, with himself and batsman Haris Sohail being the only survivors from the 2015 World Cup team. Speaking to media on Thursday, Ahmed declared Pakistan would seek inspiration from their performance in the Champions Trophy in England two years ago when they recovered from a terrible start to win the tournament.
Ahmed will be seeking a stand-out performance from Pakistan's bowling line-up, led by paceman Mohammed Amir, who had missed the 2011 and 2015 World Cup tournaments owing to a spot-fixing ban. While Amir has picked just five wickets in his last 15 games, Ahmed described him as being an “impact bowler” who could “lift his bowling and get us early wickets”.
In head-to-head encounters at the World Cup, Pakistan have won just three of their 10 matches against the West Indies. In their last match at Christchurch in the 2015 World Cup, all-rounder Andre Russell scored 42 of 13 balls and took three wickets to take West Indies to a 150-run win over Pakistan.
The West Indies will hope that Russell and the likes of batsman Shai Hope continue their good form from the warm-up games. In the warm-up match against New Zealand, Russell hit 54 of 25 balls, while Hope struck a century to lift West Indies to a score of 421 and set the team up for a convincing win.
After the batting display against New Zealand, all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite boasted that the West Indies were “definitely” capable of becoming the first team to breach the 500-run march in ODI cricket. For the West Indies, fast bowler Shannon Gabriel could miss the match against Pakistan owing to a knee niggle.
The West Indies-Pakistan match is scheduled to start at 3pm (IST). Weather forecasters have warned of overcast skies, but rain is not expected to disrupt the match.
After the match against the West Indies, Pakistan next play England at Trent Bridge on June 3. England won their first match at the World Cup, beating South Africa by 104 runs on Thursday. For their next World Cup game, West Indies play Australia at Trent Bridge on June 6.