Daijiworld Media Network

Dhaka, Apr 1 : West Indies on the other hand, have their trump card Sunil Narine to keep their heads high. The addition of Krishmar Santokie strengthens the side further which also has the luxury of bowling Samuel Badree with the new ball. The batting too hasn't done badly either apart from their dismal show against India. Having said all that, it's a new day, different opposition and a different ball and both sides will have to start from scratch. We've seen that the dew in Dhaka is not too much compared to Chittagong and it doesn't affect the side fielding second that much. However, captains winning the toss have ensured that they insert oppositions in. Will it be the same case tonight as well? We'll find out in a short while.

We are down to the final game of the Super-10s. It's the defending champions West Indies taking on Pakistan in what is a must-win game for both the sides. The winner will take on Sri Lanka in the semi-finals. It's going to be a cracking contest with both sides filled with variety. The pitch is certainly going to be assisting the slower bowlers and taking pace off the ball will be key here. Pakistan will feel confident with spinners like Ajmal, Afridi and Hafeez in the side. However, they will have to handle Chris Gayle carefully as it will be very difficult for them if he gets going from the outset.

West Indies have won the toss and have opted to bat

Hafeez: 'Conditions demand more spinners and that's why teams have many slower bowlers in their side. I think we got a lot of spinners in the side and it's always difficult to set a total on this track. We are going in with the same side as well. Oh yes, very happy to bowl first.'

Sammy: 'Today is all about Pakistan and what we have to do to overcome them. We are looking forward to go big. We all got to stay calm and execute our plans. We will have a bat. We will look to put the runs on the board and try and defend them later. We'll try to put them under pressure in the chase. This game is all about holding the nerves. We are playing the same team.'

Teams:

West Indies (Playing XI): Dwayne Smith, Chris Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy(c), Andre Russell, Denesh Ramdin(w), Sunil Narine, Samuel Badree, Krishmar Santokie

Pakistan (Playing XI): Ahmed Shehzad, Kamran Akmal(w), Mohammad Hafeez(c), Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar

Ajmal: 'We are relaxing and we have no problems in playing West Indies, we have played them before as well. The wicket is slow and it will help the spinners. We have plans against Gayle and hopefully it works. We practiced with the wet ball and even if the dew is there we are confident that we will bowl well.'

Samuels: 'We need to get the running between the wickets right. We have to take the ones and twos in the middle-overs, that's very crucial. We know we have the six hitters to push it up later on. Everything good in the camp but we don't want to be over confident and just hope that we give our best because our best will be good enough.'

Match Preview :

It will be make or break for both Pakistan and West Indies in the last game of the league stage, which will be a virtual quarter-final with the winner set to proceed to the next round along with India from Group 2.

Pakistan:

The Mohammad Hafeez-led side lost their opening game to India before coming up with fine performances against Australia and Bangladesh to keep their hopes alive. While they were completely out-played by their arch-rivals, Pakistan came back well in the following two games. They were under pressure against Australia while defending a big total but managed to hold their nerve in the end. Against Bangladesh, it was a clinical showing from the Pakistan side as they overwhelmed their Asian rivals by a big margin.

Thanks to two big knocks from Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad, Pakistan posted hefty totals in their matches against Australia and Bangladesh. Even in their not-so-impressive showing against India, Umar and Shehzad were the ones to get off to decent starts, but they failed to convert it. Against Australia, Umar Akmal came unto his own, cracking a superb 94 while he received some solid support from his brother Kamran. Shehzad became the first centurion in T20Is for Pakistan when he came up with an unbeaten 111 against Bangladesh, and the opener was supported well by Shoaib Malik. In both these matches, Shahid Afridi came up with blistering cameos, enabling Pakistan post 191 and 190 respectively. They will be expecting a solid performance from their batters again, while they will also hope for their skipper, who has not done much yet, to come to the party.

In the bowling department, Umar Gul has been in good wicket-taking form while Saeed Ajmal and Afridi have also been picking up some scalps. While Gul went for some runs in Pakistan's opening game, he did a lot better in the next two matches and reaped the benefits. Zulfiqar Babar, who replaced Junaid Khan, has also done reasonably well in the two matches he has played so far. Pakistan do not have much to worry about as far as bowling is concerned and will be hoping for the bowlers to continue their good work.

West Indies:

The Caribbean team too lost their opening game against India before securing victories against Bangladesh and Australia to land up in this do-or-die clash. After an average showing against the Group 2 table-toppers, West Indies managed to beat the hosts by a comfortable fashion. Their best showing came against Australia - the Caribbean team pulled off their highest successful chase and their celebrations after that was proof of how driven they were to prove a point to the chirpy Aussies.

Chris Gayle has scored 34, 48 and 53 in his three innings so far in this tournament. However, the big-hitting left-hander has hardly been his destructive self. He struggled to get going in the first two matches and despite notching up a half-century in the next, he slowed down a lot after an aggressive start. Dwayne Smith hit a half-century against Bangladesh, but fell without making a substantial contribution in the other two games. Lendl Simmons got off to good starts in a couple of games but failed to make it big while Marlon Samuels has not done anything note-worthy with the bat either. While Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo's efforts to help West Indies pull off a thriller against Australia, need to be commended, they too have have not done much apart from that. West Indies need a solid performance from the top-order, going up against a quality bowling attack.

Samuel Badree has been the pick of the West Indian bowlers as he has done most of the damage while Kris Santokie, Sunil Narine and Samuels have also been providing timely strikes. Narine has been the most economical of the lot while Santokie and Badree have also kept things tight. Andre Russell has been pegging away and has supported the rest of the bowlers. West Indies will be slightly concerned with the bowling form of Bravo, who has gone for a few runs and has picked up only one wicket so far. Skipper Sammy has not bowled much in this tournament, and he needs to hit the right lines in case he has to bowl a few overs.

Head to head and Ground stats:

This will be the first time that these two teams will be facing each other in a T20 WC game. At the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, which is the venue for this game, Pakistan have won 3 T20Is and lost one while West Indies have a 3-2 win-loss record here.

Numbers:

43: The number of runs Shoaib Malik requires to become the fourth Pakistan player with 1000 or more runs in T20Is. Mohammad Hafeez tops that list, followed by Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi.

1: Chris Gayle needs to score one maximum to take his tally of sixes in T20 WCs to 50. He tops the list of most sixes scored by a player in the T20 WC, followed by Yuvraj Singh.