ICC World Cup 2019: Expect The Pakistan-West Indies Match To Be A Close Encounter, Says Clive Lloyd

Ahead of the ICC World Cup 2019 match between Pakistan and West indies, which would be the tournament opener for both the teams, Clive Lloyd said that the matches between both the teams have always been close encounters and he expect the same on Friday, in Trent Bridge.

In a latest interview to ICC, the former West Indian skipper recounted his playing days and mentioned couple of matches against Pakistan. He said, “We played a couple of semi-finals at ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups against them at The Oval and they were great games. Pakistan have had formidable sides, with good all-rounders, solid batters and a good bowling attack.” On being asked if Iran Khan was their best player, Lloyd said other than him there were many good players including Sarfaraz Nawaz, Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad, among others.

About the recent West Indian team, the former World Cup-winning captain said that if Chris Gayle can get his top game out that will set the team a great platform to capitalize on. However, he cautioned his team before their first game and said the Windies batsmen should learn from the Pakistani batsmen to not throw their wickets. He said, “The difference with Pakistan’s batting compared to the West Indies is they have a few players like Babar Azam, Imamul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman who score hundreds. They do not get in and get out, they tend to go on. That is what our
players have to learn. We maybe have a few too many players who are happy to score 50 or 60, when instead they need to go on and get big scores.”

Lloyd also pointed out that both the teams have a weak bowling unit in compared to their batting part. He said, “The West Indies bowling hasn’t been as strong in the build-up to the tournament. And when you look at Pakistan, their spin department has been good but they have struggled for wickets at the start of innings.”

But he concluded by saying that Trent Bridge has always been a lively wicket and it would be an interesting match tomorrow.