Pakistan vs West Indies: Noman Ali will be the hero, Yasir Shah that rain?
Unlike other sports, cricket always needs kind seasons for its success and continuity. If the weather is bad, the game gets worse.
Something similar happened in the first leg of Pakistan's tour of the West Indies. Sacrificing one Test match, it was decided that two additional T20s would be played in preparation for the T20 World Cup, but Corona came to a standstill during the ODI series against Australia and lost one of the five T20s. went.
Look at the fate of the remaining four matches. Thanks to the Caribbean island's temperament, three matches ended with or without a start. So, the purpose for which an important match of this Test championship cycle was sacrificed was not achieved.
Even before the start of the Test match starting in Kingston tonight, continuous rain has been predicted, which is expected at intervals but only on the fifth day of the match.
In such a weather situation, if both the teams are lucky enough to play some cricket, then the goal will definitely be the valuable points of the Test Championship, the achievement of which will determine the direction of both the teams from now on. Remember that this is the first series of both the teams in the recent cycle of the World Test Championship.
West Indies were fortunate that despite a bad clean sweep against South Africa, their standings were not affected as they were not part of the series championship but Babar Azam's XI would not be able to make such a mistake. ۔
Following the home series victory over South Africa, the dressing room has also maintained its morale and momentum against Zimbabwe. The characters have become clear and the players are also seen to be relaxing in their roles.
The advantage for this team, which is known for its unreliability of the batting line-up, is that this uncertainty is now limited to only two top-order positions. The middle-order, comprising Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, and Mohammad Rizwan, has also added its share of runs and experience.
But the biggest concern in the rival camp is batting, which in all innings of the series against South Africa also missed a total of two hundred and fifty. Coach Phil Simmons says the roots of these deep problems need to be found in the structure of domestic cricket.
Because there is no tendency to score big in domestic cricket. Regardless of the long-term plan, Craig Braithwaite and his teammates will have to justify their presence in the series or else the Test championship points will pay the price for their shortcomings.
As much cricket as possible between rainy seasons, the scoring rate is likely to be slow and spinners, in general, are likely to rule. It is believed that Babar Azam will also feed Noman Ali along with Yasir Shah and Faheem Ashraf may not be a part of this XI.
The last time Pakistan played a Test series here was in 2017 which was the last series of Misbah and Younis and was ruled by Yasir Shah who was the player of the series by taking 25 wickets in three matches.
This time it is to be seen that the hero will be Noman Ali, Yasir Shah or rain?