ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: West Indies bounce and trounce Pakistan

May 31, 2019

Trent Bridge | West Indies won by 7 wickets

When have Pakistan ceased to surprise? The evidence from Trent Bridge suggests - never quite. The Pakistanis were folded up and savoured for a quick snack. The Windies pacers were quick and accurate with their short ball tactics, but this shambolic batting performance was by a team which arrived in England over a month ago for their World Cup preparations!

The conditioning did not help. 104 all out inside 22 overs is shockingly under-par at a ground that has been a batsmen's paradise recently and totals over 350 were a given. This adds another episode to their unpredictable streak, albeit a dark and thoroughly embarrassing one.

Speechless.

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) May 31, 2019

In reply, Pakistan had no choice but to run in hard and attack the brawny West Indies batting line-up. Mohammad Amir did it with some success and knocked down 3 wickets, but in the face of another customary, inevitable, and bruising onslaught by Chris Gayle, it hardly created a roadblock. Their resistance was thwarted in just 13.4 overs. The West Indies have done themselves and their net run rate a huge favour by inflicting one of the heaviest of defeats (218 balls) on Pakistan this early into the tournament.

It might well come back to benefit them later on. The only silver lining for Pakistan is that this is just a blip and that it just can't get any worse than this. Who knows though, with Pakistan, who really knows?

Brief Scores

Toss: West Indies elected to field

Pakistan 105 all out (21.4 overs)

Fakhar Zaman 22 (16), Babar Azam 22 (33)

Oshane Thomas 4/27, Jason Holder 3/42

West Indies 108/3 (13.4 overs)

Chris Gayle 50 (34), Nicholas Pooran 28 (14)

Mohammad Amir 3/26

West Indies won by 7 wickets | Player of the Match: Oshane Thomas