Pakistan, WI lock horns in second T20I today

PROVIDENCE, Guyana: After the opening game washed out, Pakistan and hosts West Indies will now clash in the second match of the T20I series in Providence on Saturday (today).

West Indies might be forced to make a change to the playing XI that took the field in the first T20I after Lendl Simmons retired hurt. Andre Fletcher could be drafted into the team at the top unless captain Kieron Pollard decides to promote Chris Gayle to the opening slot to accommodate another player lower down the order.

Pakistan bowled commendably against a strong West Indies batting line-up, and were in control for most of the innings before a late charge from Pollard took the hosts to a respectable total.

Hasan Ali finished with 2/11 in his two overs while the spinners Mohammad Hafeez, Shadab Khan and Usman Qadir gave away only 26 runs for two wickets in their three overs

With the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup just around the corner, Pakistan might want to experiment with the batting line-up, with Sharjeel Khan returning at the top of the order.

The visitors didn’t get a chance to bat in the first T20I. It’s unlikely Pakistan will make any changes to the team and will want to give their players, especially the batters, a good run of games ahead of the mega event later this year.

Rain played spoilsport when West Indies and Pakistan faced off in the first T20I of the series, which was reduced to a nine-over a side game.

Asked to bat, West Indies got off to a horrid start – Lendl Simmons retired hurt after he was struck on the neck by debutant

Mohammad Wasim’s bouncer and two balls later, Hasan Ali scalped Evin Lewis to get his 50th T20I wicket.

Nicholas Pooran got the Windies innings going with two sixes of Mohammad Hafeez’s over but lost his wicket off the last ball trying to go for another big one.

The hosts then lost Chris Gayle and Andre Russell in three balls and were at 51/4 after 6.1 overs before a late flurry from captain Kieron Pollard propelled them to 85/5 in nine overs.

It started pouring in Bridgetown after the completion of the West Indies innings, and play was called off without Pakistan getting a crack at the total.