The second of four T20 internationals between West Indies and Pakistan takes place in Guyana on Saturday, no result was possible in the series opener and West Indies remain the bookmakers favourites.
Barbados was the venue for the first contest on Wednesday, rain delayed the start and an attempt was made to squeeze a 9 overs per side game. After West Indies posted 85/5 I their 9 overs more bad weather forced the match to be called off. Kieron Pollard top scored for the hosts with 22 off 9 balls and Hasan Ali claimed 2 wickets for 11 runs from his 2 overs.
This was how the teams lined up on Wednesday.
West Indies: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran(w), Kieron Pollard(c), Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Hayden Walsh, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell
Pakistan: Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Qadir
Recent Form
West Indies
West Indies have been very busy of late. Most recently they completed a 4-1 series win over Australia with all 5 matches staged in St. Lucia.
Prior to that despite winning the opening match by 8 wickets West Indies lost a home series against South Africa 3-2. The series went to the wire and the Proteas won the decider last weekend by 25 runs.
West Indies hosted Sri Lanka in March and they won a 3 match series 2-1. In November 2020 they lost 2-0 in New Zealand and they won 2-0 in Sri Lanka a year ago.
Pakistan
Pakistan arrive on the back of a 3 match series in England. They won they opening match by 31 runs but lost the next 2 by 45 runs and then 3 wickets to lose the series 2-1.
Pakistan were in Zimbabwe in April and they won a 3 match series 2-1. Prior to that they toured South Africa and they won 3-1. Pakistan also hosted the Proteas in February and they won that series 2-1.
Recent Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 15 times with West Indies winning 3 to Pakistan's 11 and 1 no result.
In April 2018 Pakistan completed a 3-0 clean sweep of an under strength Windies side in Karachi.
In March / April 2017 Pakistan won a 4 match series in the Caribbean 3-1.
The Venue: Providence Stadium, Guyana
West Indies have played just 3 T20's at this venue. In 2010 they beat Ireland by 70 runs and England by 8 wickets and in August 2019 they lost to India by 7 wickets. Pollard top scored with 58 in that match against India but West Indies' total of 146/6 was easily taken care of by India.
You can check the Weather Forecast here
The Betting
West Indies are currently trading at around 4/6 to win the game and Pakistan can be backed at around 6/5
West Indies are 3/10 to hit the most sixes and 15/20 to post the highest first 6 overs total
Evin Lewis is 11/4 favourite to top score for West Indies and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is 37/20 favourite top be top bat for the visitors.
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
With little to go on after the first match I'll stick with Rizwan as top Pakistan bat. Whilst Babar Azam is always favourite to be top bat for Pakistan in the recent T20 series against England early this month Rizwan scored 176 runs in 3 matches compared to his skippers 118 so at the prices Rizwan looks worthy of inclusion.
In the West Indies top bat market a chance is taken on Nicholas Pooran who came in at 4 in the washed out series opener and hence 6/1 looks an attractive enough price.
Bets: Top West Indies run scorer Nicholas Pooran at 6/1
Top Pakistan run scorer Mohammad Rizwan at 11/4
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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