Sharjah: Pakistan One Day International team, wanting to emulate their Twenty20 team, which inflicted a clean sweep over West Indies, clash in the first of the three match one-day series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium here on Friday. It will be the 225th ODI match at this venue that had entered the Guinness Book of World Record for hosting the maximum number of ODIs in the history of the game.
Pakistan will be keen to show they are a power in the ODI format too especially coming here after a 4-1 drubbing from England.
Their one-day team is ranked ninth in the ICC ODI ranking and they know that a defeat in the series will put their chances of automatic entry into the ICC 2019 World Cup at risk.
The cut-off for qualification for World Cup is September 30, 2017 and the top eight ODI nations get an automatic entry. West Indies are now in the eighth place.
Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali admitted that it’s a very important series from them.
“It is a very important series considering the qualification to 2019 World Cup. Teams are contesting for it and we are very confident that we have the ability to do well in this series. We can perform to the potential, conditions are tough as its warm here and fitness will be tested. Our team’s fitness is improving but that will be tested on the ground so we will try our best to win. We have to take that confidence of the three good T20 wins. We also had a good win at Cardiff (fifth ODI) so that was a good performance. We chased 300-plus outside Asia (for the first time) and there was a good partnership with Malik and Sarfraz. We bowled well in that last game so we had set good standards in the last few limited overs games, so we have to keep improving.”
Answering to a query from Gulf News on how does he assess the West Indies ODI team, he said: “In limited overs they are a dangerous side and have players who can win the games on their day. We are aware of that but we need to focus on our game and keep that aggressive mode of the T20 in the ODIs as well.”
Ali, who was under pressure after Pakistan lost 4-1 in England, was asked whether he will step down from captaincy if they fail to win this series. “It’s for the Board to decide on my captaincy. I don’t want to answer it,” he said.
However when queried again about the media hype around his captaincy, Ali said: “I don’t know why such things come on media. We have a big media too and many channels so they make news in air but you have to ignore them. I don’t know for what reason they start creating controversies which are not there at all.”
So is he enjoying the captaincy despite the pressures? “I am doing captaincy for the last one and a half years. I am enjoying the role and the team is shaping well. We have some new and exciting players coming up like Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, our fielding is improving and there are glimpses of improvement in batting as well. We are still not there but we have shown improvement.”
When asked about two of his highly skilled players Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal, Ali said: “ Asad is a very professional player and like a pro he has said that he can bat anywhere. Umar Akmal has come after a long time so he has to prove himself. I am sure that he has learnt his lessons and will perform.”
Pakistan: Azhar Ali (capt), Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Sohail Khan.
West Indies: Jason Holder (capt), Sulieman Benn, Carlos Brathwaite, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Johnson Charles, Shannon Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Marlon Samuels
Start time: 3pm.
