Pakistan revival strengthens with Windies T20s

Karachi (AFP): Pakistan will take another significant step towards the revival of international cricket as World Twenty20 champions the West Indies feature in three back-to-back Twenty20 internationals in Karachi from Sunday. 

The Pakistan Cricket Board have put in place stringent security arrangements for the West Indies team, with 8,000 policemen and paramilitary personnel guarding the visitors in and around the hotel and stadium. 

The International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee David Boon will supervise the series while ICC general manager cricket Geoff Allardice and umpires’ manager Adrian Griffith will also attend the matches to oversee arrangements. 

The series comes as Pakistan is enjoying guarded optimism over the return of international cricket, driven from the country after a deadly militant attack targeting the Sri Lanka team in 2009. 

Earlier this month Karachi successfully hosted the final of the popular Pakistan Super League (PSL), becoming the second major venue to host international matches after Lahore hosted Zimbabwe in 2015. 

Lahore also hosted the PSL final in March last year, three World XI matches in September and one against Sri Lanka a month later. 

This year’s PSL final was the first major cricket event in Karachi since 2009. Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said he was overjoyed at the return of international matches to his home city. 

“This is a great occasion,” said Sarfraz, the only player in the squad who has played a limited over international in Karachi before. 

“We saw a big crowd in the PSl final so I hope they will come in big numbers for the Twenty20 series.” The other two matches will be played on Monday and Tuesday. 

Pakistan have done well in the shortest format of the game, having won 14 of the 17 Twenty20 internationals since Sarfraz took over as captain in September 2016. 

That helped them reach the number one spot in Twenty20 rankings, having won 2-1 in New Zealand in January this year. 

Sarfraz said he hoped his team would keep the momentum. 

“Whatever team West Indies sends we have to play at our best because they have good shorter format players,” said the captain, whose team has only lost three of their 11 Twenty20 internationals against the West Indies. 

Pakistan have included three newcomers in batsman Asif Ali, allrounder Hussain Talat and paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi -- after the trio fared well in the PSL 2018. 

West Indies will be without their regular Twenty20 captain Carlos Brathwaite, who opted out of the tour over security fears while openers Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, allrounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, and spinner Sunil Narine were not available for selection due to their commitments to the Indian Premier League. 

Middle order batsman Jason Mohammad will lead the side, which has four uncapped Twenty20 players in batsman Andre McCarthy, fast bowler Odean Smith, left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and all-rounder Keemo Paul. 

Teams: Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Usman Khan Shinwari, Shaheen Shah Afridi. 

West Indies: Jason Mohammed (captain), Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Andre McCarthy, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Odean Smith, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams.

West Indies name weakened squad for Pakistan T20 tour 

ESPNCricinfo: Jason Mohammed will captain a notably weakened West Indies side set to tour Pakistan for a three-match T20I series. With less than 72 hours to the first ball being bowled, there was increasing concern over the fate of the tour, but the announcement of the 13-man squad will come as a relief to the Pakistan Cricket Board, who had already begun to sell tickets for the three games to be played at the National Stadium Karachi.

As with Sri Lanka’s visit to Pakistan last October, West Indies’ side is well off from what would be considered a full-strength unit. Just four of the side that will tour Pakistan were in West Indies’ squad for the World Cup qualifiers earlier this month, with skipper Jason Holder, Chris Gayle and Devendra Bishoo among those absent. There are two new faces in what is a relatively inexperienced side, Andre McCarthy and Odean Smith having received their maiden call-ups.

Another intriguing aspect to the squad is the complete absence of any players from Barbados. West Indies have, at present, a sizeable Barbadian contingent in their regular starting line-up, including their captain Holder, but he, as well as the likes of Shai Hope, Carlos Brathwaite and Ashley Nurse do not feature.

Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin and Samuel Badree are the most experienced players on the team sheet. Also part of the touring party are wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton and opener Andre Fletcher, both of whom played in Karachi on Sunday in the Pakistan Super League final.

Commenting on the tour, Cricket West Indies (CWI) Chief Executive Officer Jonny Grave said, “Following the successful hosting of the Pakistan Super League final in Karachi on the weekend, our squad are now en route to Pakistan for our three-match T20I series. This tour is a further major step for our friends at the PCB to bring their cricket back home, and we are pleased that our players and support staff have recognised this and supported this venture. “Independent security advisors Eastern Star International have confirmed to both CWI and WIPA that they are satisfied the risk is manageable and can be mitigated to an acceptable level. We have made it very clear to the players and support staff that had personal reservations about this tour that we fully understand and respect their position.”

West Indies were due to visit Pakistan in November, but a number of factors – including unforeseen bad weather – meant the tour had to be postponed. The reluctance of several West Indies players to tour Pakistan due to security concerns has been evident ever since the tour was announced, and it emerged just last week that CWI was offering its players around USD25,000 if they agreed to tour Pakistan for the series.The three T20Is will be played consecutively from April 1-3, all at the National Stadium in Karachi.

West Indies squad: Jason Mohammad (capt), Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Andre McCarthy, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Marlon Samuels, Odean Smith, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams