Pakistan beat an poor West Indies side were bowled out for 112 all out and beaten by 10 wickets. It was Sammy who the toss on a good batting pitch. With that in mind Chanderpaul was brought back into the side to provide stablity in the middle order. It started off poorly for West Indies as they Pakistan got Gayle out early to Gul trying to hit him out of the park but only found Afridi. It got worse for West Indies as the next over Hafeez got Smith and Bravo trapped LBW.
It was left the experienced Sarwan and Chanderpaul to rebuild the innings. At the end of the first powerplay West Indies were 18-3. The second powerplay was slow but steady for West Indies as they didn't loss any wickets and scored another 18 runs. Pakistan continued to bowl tightly and didn't give any bad balls for the pair. It kept the pressure on to the batsman. In the 21st over West Indies slowly made it to 50 runs in 126 balls as these 2 were tried to rebuild the innings. But just as the these two started to build on there partnership Afridi got Sarwan as he edged the ball to Umar Akmal.
After that the West Indies collapsed dramatically as Pollard, Thomas, Sammy and Bishoo went out for 0 or 1 run as the West Indies were 58-3to 71-8. Chanderpaul and Roach did lead an small recovery. Chanderpaul was holding up one end and to the credit to Roach he gave Chanderpaul some support. These 2 made it to 100 at the end of the 37th over. The partnership did go on slowly but steadily until Razzaq went ended the resistant of Roach when he edged Razzaq to Younus Khan to take an simple catch. An over later the innings was over when Rampaul got bowled by Afridi and the West Indies were bowled out for an small 112.
It was an very poor batting display as there only 3 batsman (including the number 10 batsman) making it to double figures. Chanderpaul was left 44 NO off 106 balls hitting only 1 six and Sarwan hit an patient 24 off 68 balls including 2 fours and Roach getting 16 runs off 43 balls. Saying that Pakistan bowling was top quality. Gul bowled 7 overs with 1 maiden 13 runs and 1 wicket. Hafeez bowled 10 overs 3maidens 16 runs and 2 wickets. Afridi lead the bowling attack well with 9.3 overs 1 maiden 30 runs getting 4 wickets. Ajmal bowled 8 overs 1 maiden 18 runs for 2 wickets and Razzaq got an wicket the end bowling 3 overs for 4 runs and 1 wicket. An good all round bowling performance by the Pakistan bowlers as all bowlers got wickets apart from Riaz and the fielding backed up excellent bowling.
The openers batsman came out all guns blazing as they attacked the powerplay overs. In the 8th over Pakistan made the 50 partnership (47 balls). They seemed to want to get the job done quickly. The West Indies were flat and it didn't look like a wicket was coming. By the end of the powerplay Pakistan were over half way to there target with 58-0 after 10 overs.
West Indies didn't take the second powerplay but it didn't stop the runs flowing off the bat. Combined with poor bowling and positive and attacking batting Pakistan were easing towards victory. Overs between 10-15 Pakistan hit another 28 runs as they had the best opening partnership in this world cup. Even a couple of maidens didn't create enough pressure for them to make any mistakes or create any pressure. After Hafeez good display with the ball he backed it up with an half century with the bat. He got that in 55 balls including including 9 fours. Then another target these openers made was an 100 partnership in the 20th over as they as they did it in 116 balls. Then Pakistan finished off the job with a bit of flourish with some boundaries in the end.
It was an impressive all-round performance by Pakistan. Bowled really well, backed up with brilliant fielding and and batted positively and solidly to get them to easy victory. They now move on Mohali and await the result of tomorrow's match India vs Australia. For a lot of people an India vs Pakistan match is an exciting prospect but you cannot ever rule out Australia. India will have pressure from the media and the crowd and take 1 billion peoples hopes into the match but the winner of that match will take on Pakistan on Wednesday the 30th of March.
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