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Pakistan bowler Shahid Afridi (C) celebrates with teammates as West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo (2nd L) LBW for 0 during the 1st ODI at Guyana National Stadium on July 14, 2013. (Getty Images)
West Indies and Pakistan have been neck-to-neck in this series so far with a win each and hard-fought tie at St. Lucia in the third ODI. All three matches have been low-scoring affairs with the bowlers dominating the contest. The tie in the last match means that one team will have to go a gear-up in order to win both matches and the series.
West Indies have made some corrections with the bat as Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuels got some valuable runs under the belt but the inconsistency of the top-order remains a concern. They have not been up to the mark in the field either and 15-20 runs can make a lot of difference in low-scoring matches.
Pakistan, on the other hand, have allowed an excellent opportunity to slip away after they won the first tie convincingly and were leading the race in the third match before a lower order resurgence from the West Indies evoked a panic reaction.
The batting department is still suspect as Ahmed Shehzad’s drought of runs at the head of the innings continues. The alternative of promoting Md. Hafeez to open with Nasir Jamshed is not too tempting either given that he has not scored a half-century in his last six innings for Pakistan. The bowling department has picked up wickets up-front but the West Indian batsmen have managed to keep negate their threat in the middle overs.
Here is a list of five players who will influence the result of the fourth ODI to be played at St. Lucia:
Johnson Charles of West Indies (Getty Images)
5. Johnson Charles
The opening batsman has had his share of failures in the recent past but he has managed to show sparks of brilliance. He has the ability to apply himself in hostile situations in spite of his natural aggressive instinct.
His partner Chris Gayle suffers from a similar problem but made, perhaps, of a greater magnitude due to his extremely poor run of form. His last knock of significance came in the first match of the Tri-Nation series.
Charles has the ability to wither the first few overs and playing the maximum deliveries with a straight bat holds him in good stead. The flaw in his technique is that he is not designed for gradual accumulation of runs as is required in the middle overs.
Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan (Getty Images)
4. Saeed Ajmal
The off-spinner was briefly but brutally treated by Sunil Narine in the last match. Saeed Ajmal is used as a wicket-taking bowler who can also ply his trade in death overs due to his deceptive variations including the much-famed doosra.
However, Pakistan will do well to give him attacking field settings in the middle overs when a partnership is being built. Samuels and Simmons created the foundation for a late revival for the West Indies in the last game and that was made possible only because Pakistan tried to be economical instead of aggressive.
Misbah-ul-Haq can utilise Shahid Afridi along with Junaid Khan for the death overs.
West Indies bowler Jason Holder (Getty Images)
3. Jason Holder
West Indies need to ensure that Pakistan’s batting woes continue if they are to win this series. Jason Holder surprised a few with his performance in the first ODI as he finished with a four-wicket haul giving away just 13 runs of his 10 overs.
He was successful because he was able to assess the conditions well and bowled the correct line and length. The conditions at St. Lucia did not offer sharp bounce but Holder, inspired by Kemar Roach’s enthusiastic burst of pace, managed to get a few around the neck area causing trouble for the Pakistan top-order.
Holder and Roach will be key for West Indies once again especially if they are fortunate enough to be batting first.
Pakistan skipper Misbah-Ul-Haq (Getty Images)
2. Misbah-ul-Haq
The Pakistan captain continues to be the consistent performer in an otherwise dismal batting side. However, Misbah’s contributions have not directly translated into success as in the process of doing the business of fire-fighting he enters a shell.
He must rotate the strike a lot more and understand that just plugging one end is not good enough when other batsman are failing to make those decent contributions. His leadership abilities will also be under scrutiny after Pakistan succumbed to a panic attack in the last game in spite of having 40 runs to defend in the last three overs with all competent West Indian batsmen back in the pavilion.
Marlon Samuels of WEst Indies (Getty Images)
1. Marlon Samuels
Marlon Samuels has had a horrid time with the bat in the last two tournaments but he managed to show some dogged resistance in the middle in the last encounter. His knock of 46 runs of 106 was entirely out of character as he usually likes to throw his bat around. His inconsistency is a cause of concern for the West Indies because when he makes an impact it is usually a match-winning impact.
The middle-order needs a bit of muscle as the opening batsmen are liable to falter and the effectively of the lower-order depends upon the foundation created by the likes of Simmons, Darren Bravo and Samuels. The time he spent in the middle would have given him some confidence and that might evoke a better performance in the fourth ODI.
