Pakistan vs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 - Expert Analysis
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 have surprised the cricket world with their professional performance for a change as they outclassed the West Indies by 10 wickets in the first quarter-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at Mirpur. The bowlers rose to the occasion once again
and placed their team in the driving seat in the first innings of the match.
The green shirts made just one change to their previous lineup as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abdur-Rehman-c41691. Caribbean team on the other hand made three changes to their previous playing 11 as Chris Gayle, Kemar Roach and Shivnarine
Chanderpaul replaced Andre http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Benn-c47745 and Kirk Edwards.
The management of Pakistan team is calling the right shots at the moment and seems to have a great deal of planning involved in their work at the moment. The decision to bring in Ajmal worked really well for the green shirts as he is a wicket-taker and a
potential match-winner.
The biggest strength of the Pakistan team is their bowling as the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 seem to be at the peak of their career at the moment as both of them are amongst the top five wicket-takers of the tournament, whereas the later is at number
one with 21 scalps.
Bowling of the green shirts did the trick against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 and bettered their performance in today’s match. Their triumph against the Kangaroos seems to have lifted their spirit and now they feel that they can remove any hurdle that come in their way of
being crowned as the world champions.
Another positive for Afridi and company was the performance of their openers as they chased down 112 runs without any trouble. Opening has been a major worry for Waqar Younis and company in this event so this showing should give a lot of comfort to the Pakistani
coach.
Shahid Afridi said after the match that today’s performance is a gift for the Pakistani nation as it is a national day back home. He also admired the performance of his openers and said that, "this is a great gift to give back to the nation on Pakistan Day.
We tried to stick to our plans and the boys have done a great job doing that. Kamran and Hafeez did really well.”
On the other side of the coin, it was a disastrous day for the West Indies cricket as a lot of cricket fans in the Caribbean would be disheartened by their team’s performance. The Windies heavily rely on the individual brilliance of Chris Gayle but he was
dismissed cheaply today and so was the whole team.
West Indian captain Darren Sammy said during the post match presentation ceremony that his batsmen have struggled against the spin throughout the tournament and same was the case today. However, he conveyed some positive vibes to the West Indian cricket
fans by naming some of the youngsters who can do well for the team in the coming years.
"Definitely not enough runs on the board. We didn't counter the bowling well and fell well short. We lost wickets in clusters against spin through the tournament and today was no different. Some bright spots are a number of players under the age of 27 -
Roach, Rampaul, Bishoo and a few youngsters who should be around for the next World Cup,” Sammy said.
Although the Pakistan team performed brilliantly in the match but overall it was a disappointing fixture for the cricket fans all around the world as they were expecting a closely fought quarter-final.
Pakistan will be now heading towards Mohali, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in order to prepare for the second semi-final on the 30th of this month. They will be keenly following tomorrow’s quarter-final between Australia and India as the winner will meet Pakistan in
the semi-final.
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