Two Pakistani players who campaigned in this year’s Caribbean Premier League are backing their side to upset West Indies in their three-match Twenty20 global series starting Friday. West Indies will be without key all-rounder Andre Russell who withdrew from the squad due to personal reasons.
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The Windies are also missing flamboyant big-hitter Chris Gayle, who complains of injury problems and makes only sporadic appearances for his country.
West Indies are one of the most risky teams in T20 cricket and are the current world champions. Our focus was mainly on that we should play well and play good cricket.
Chris Gayle won’t play for West Indies against Pakistan in Dubai.
Brathwaite’s uncapped players – including wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran, all-rounder Rovman Powell and fast bowler Kesrick Williams will also want to fire against a unsafe Pakistan side. And with spinners like Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine, they have world-class T20 bowlers, who can make life hard for the batsmen. They have the ammunition in the bag to take down any team, but playing consistent cricket has always been a problem for the Men in Green. “We didn’t think England were World T20 finalists when we beat them at Manchester”, said Sarfraz.
Pakistan who have been using the Middle East as their home venue, come into this clash after having a mixed tour of England where they drew the Test matches 2-2, won the solitary T20 game and were comprehensively thrashed 4-1 in the five-match ODI series.
Hafeez has been struggling with the bat for quite some time now and his dismal performances during the tour to England invited heavy criticism with Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur not holding back in his remarks stating that he would not shy away from dropping underperforming cricketers from the squad regardless of their past reputation.
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Fast bowler Mohammad Amir joined the squad after his wedding on Tuesday and will spearhead a spin-cum-pace attack. Umar smashed a fiery century in a national Twenty20 event to force his comeback. The teams will also play three ODIs and three Tests.
