In the second match of the 2019 ICC cricket World Cup, With seven wickets, West Indies annihilated Pakistan in a one-sided World Cup match at Trent Bridge on Friday, with two-time champions showing that they are a resurgent force in the one-day match.
Fast bowler Oshane Thomas took four wickets as Pakistan scored its second-lowest score ever with 105 runs in just 21.4 overs. Pakistan’s lowest World Cup score was 74 on the way to their only World Cup title in 1992 against England in Adelaide. With a half-fit Chris Gayle smashing a 34-ball fifty, West Indies ran to the finish line in just 13.4 overs. West Indies won with 218 spare balls, the highest in Cricket World Cup ever.
It was an embarrassing batting display by Pakistan, who spent several weeks camping in England and scoring 300-plus totals quite frequently in the lead up to the World Cup. But the batting line-up of Pakistan was fully exposed against some relentless short-pitched stuff from West Indies on a wicket that didn’t hold any real demons. The West Indians bowled against Pakistan 68 short balls and picked seven wickets from them.
For a huge six over the square-leg boundary, Nicolas Pooran smashed paceman Wahab Riaz to give the world champions of 1975 and 1979 an ideal start to their campaign. “It was a good game. Today, I think the bowlers were excellent,” – Holder.
After missing the 2011 and 2015 tournaments due to a 2010 spot-fixing ban, the only positive for Pakistan was three wickets for paceman Mohammad Amir on his World Cup debut.
In an abysmal batting display, Opener Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam were the joint top scorers with 22 each. Riaz, who scored 18, and Mohammad Hafeez (16), were the only other batsmen to reach double figures.
Pakistani captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, said that he was extremely disappointed with the batting as he was very confident before the match. He also credited the West Indian bowlers for their outstanding performance and said that the teams need to take time if the bowlers are bowling like that.