Pakistan’s quest to bring the Cup home

England versus South Africa, a result that was not expected but still unfolded. Even though the protease successfully took early wickets, apparently it was not enough effort, as the favorites, team England- beautifully defended this title and rank in the opener of the world cup 2019. Giving a befitting reply to all the predictions against them, even to me as I predicted the alternate end in my previous blog, the boys in blue managed to etch victory to their name. But I’m ever as ready and pumped to give my take of today’s match.

‘Jacks’ in the stadium

After facing ten consecutive losses in One-Day International cricket matches, brace yourselves as the Pakistan cricket team is all armed for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 today. Playing against the twice World Champions– West Indies at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The green shirts aims to get a head start in the tournament by tackling and strategizing their bowling, batting, and fielding meltdowns.

The results of the recent series with England, it was visible that even scoring more than 300 wasn’t enough for the green shirts to grab a win, as the team needs to explore a new strategy in order to be successful in this World Cup. Today marks the date that our team goes into this massacre, after 20 years, without one of their indispensable weapon, Shahid Khan Afridi! So as the Friday prayers approach, please guys don’t forget to join your hands together and say a prayer for our team. May the odds be in their favor.

Known to have the best bowling line up, the ‘shaheens’ has always been top notch regarding this side, but the recent ODI series vs England proved that the Pakistani teams needs to carry out variations in their bowling strategy and change, since the batsmen stayed on-track and played with an element of decency. This helped them in putting up 300 plus runs on the board in the ODI game.

Losing one of the warmup matches, while the rain called off the second game, the green shirts need to fill in the void with reverse swing in death overs, plus  potentially hitting power shots when needed and also keep the surprise factor alive as they take on their opponents and take them on a ride they’d remember. Strategically maintaining the top order to strike shots and keep the runs flowing in the middle order, the element of power-hitting is required by the tail-enders, which will take the team further. For this they need a competent and solid base.

Even though the last World Cup was won 40 years ago, the ‘windies’ have proved themselves as one of the strongest participants of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. As the recent squad has a balanced accumulation of experienced and fresh players, they are all set to put on a festival of runs and wickets as they’ve promised the shaheens to give a run for their money.

Showcasing a classic innings, West Indies outclassed New Zealand in a warm-up match, as the 25 year old lad- Shai Hope, fetched a century on just 85 balls with unreal power hitting, followed by half-centuries of Andre Russell and Evin Lewis, and Chris Gayle, a man who needs no introduction, windies phenomenally put forward 421 runs for their rivals. Being steady as ever, this team has the global support of their admirers.

Taking their strategy into account, West Indies have an aggressive pace attack in the form of their bowlers, Shannon Gabriel and Oshane Thomas. The only place their fire power lacks is wicket-taking spin bowlers.

Talking about the past matches, Pakistan and West Indies have locked horns in 10 matches. The Windies emerged victorious in 7 matches. Being termed as the ‘dark horses’ of the world cup 2019, the battles between both the fire houses today will be nail biting one, so guys this is where we come in. Pray for the Pakistan team to emerge victorious.

Taking the pitch condition into play, along with the fire these dark horse possess, we should witness a high-scoring encounter between the two teams, as the cards owing to the traditionally flat nature of the Trent Bridge pitch and the small size of the ground. Even though rain was forecasted in the early morning, we should be able to see a full-mad game. Whether or not it will be a run-fest game, the bowlers will be lucky enough to get some help from the cloudy skies.

Match predictions

After predicting wrong as to what will go down, I feel no shame in presenting my statistic prediction today as well. Being a huge fan of the Pakistani team, we have players like Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Amir, Hassan Ali and Shahdab Khan, who have the ability to take the legacy of Pakistani cricket legends forward and are fully capable to destroy the opponent team. So, if it’s still not obvious, I’m ready to bet my life on my Pakistani cricket team. And till the very last moment I’ll pray that they are the ones who emerge victorious. But if this not the case, don’t worry as I already know the lyrics to ‘humain tum say piyar hai’ by heart.

As the excitement and the ‘desiness’ comes out to say, we just have to wait and watch that;

Kya kali andhi shaheenoon to ura k lay jain gi? Or, Yeh Shaheeno ki hogi is kali andhi say bhi buland parwaz?