The West Indies return to a happy hunting ground when they take on Pakistan in Mirpur in the first World Cup quarter-final on Wednesday morning. The Shere Bangla Stadium is the same ground where they ruthlessly disposed of Bangladesh in the Group stages but they go into this match with Pakistan as outsiders at odds of 6/4 with William Hill. Pakistan are 4/6 on to win and reach their first World Cup semi-final since 1999.
Pakistan finished top of Group A, and lived up their reputation of being a mercurial side as they defeated Australia and Sri Lanka, flirted with defeat against Kenya and lost to New Zealand. It is fair to say that Pakistan appear to save their best for the top test playing nations, while West Indies easily disposed of the associate nations and Bangladesh but lost the matches against the 'big three' of India, South Africa and England.
Between the two sides, only one century has been scored so far, by Devon Smith, and Hills offer the odds of a century not being scored on Wednesday at 4/7 on. The Windies will hope that Chris Gayle finally ignites as he could single-handedly take the game away from Pakistan and he is currently 5/1 with Hills to be top batsman in the match. His fitness problems remain a concern but as his brief cameo against England last week showed he is a man for the big stage.
The problem for West Indies is the late order batting collapses that have plagued them in their two most recent defeats to England and India. While their bowling attack has been impressive as Kemar Roach should return from injury on Wednesday and could replace Ravi Rampaul, despite the latter's five wicket haul against India.
Pakistan meanwhile have relied heavily on Misbah-ul-haq and could be in danger of becoming over reliant on him getting them out of jail, but the experienced Younis Khan could come to the fore this week. Khan can be backed at industry best priced odds of 5/1 with WilliamHill.com to be top Pakistan batsman as he looks to add to his tournament tally of 172 runs.
Shahid Afridi has been their standout bowler with 17 wickets as he grabs all the headlines, but it is the unsung hero Umar Gul who catches the eye this week. Gul has taken 13 wickets in six matches and his experience is another big factor at this stage of the tournament as he has a canny ability to bowl a yorker and is often very economical. The other Pakistan bowlers take their lead from Gul and he can be backed to be top Pakistan batsman at odds of 5/2.
It all looks set to be a classic match and experience could prove crucial between two mercurial sides who on their day have the ability to beat anyone. However, Pakistan's recent taste for the bigger matches against the Windies poor record against test playing nations gives Shahid Afridi's side the edge.
Pakistan v West Indies ODI Tips
Tip #1: Chris Gayle to be top match batsman @ 5/1 with WilliamHill.com
Tip #2: Umar Gul to be top Pakistan bowler @ 5/2 with WilliamHill.com
Tip #3: Younis Khan to be top Pakistan batsman @ 5/1 with WilliamHill.com
Match Odds
8/15 Pakistan
6/4 West Indies
Top Pakistan Batsman Odds
7/2 Mohammad Hafeez
4/1 Kamran Akmal
9/2 Ahmed Shehzad
9/2 Asad Shafiq
9/2 Misbah-ul-haq
5/1 Younis Khan
Top West Indies Batsman Odds
3/1 Chris Gayle
7/2 Devon Smith
7/2 Ramnaresh Sarwan
4/1 Darren Bravo
11/2 Shiv Chanderpaul
6/1 Kirk Edwards
Odds provided by WilliamHill.com, who will be operating a variety of betting markets, including in-play betting, throughout the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Posted: Wednesday, 23rd March 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: cricket world cup, pakistan, west indies, shahid afridi, william hill,
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