Proteas and Caribbeans ready to bounce back

South Africa and West Indies started their journey of this year’s ICC T20 World Cup with a defeat in their respective games but they are ready to bounce back as both the teams meet in a group 1 clash at Dubai.

Pakistan broke the jynx as they defeated arch-rival India in their opening match of this year’s T20 World Cup and now they will face New Zealand in their next game at Sharjah.

Both South Africa and West Indies struggled with batting in their first game of the tournament.

The Proteas managed only 118-9 in their first match against Australia at Abu Dhabi where pacer Josh Hazelwood and leg-spinner Adam Zampa was menacing.

The Caribbeans were all-out for only 55 runs in their opening game against England, a re-match of the last year’s tensed final which ended up in a one-sided affair.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid did the maximum damage as he took four wickets while Moeen Ali grabbed two.

Both the sides were susceptible towards leg-spin and this forecasts a battle of spin between Tabraiz Shamsi and Heyden Walsh Jr in Dubai where West Indies lost the first match.

Chris Gayle was out for only 13 runs against England but assistant coach of West Indies Roddy Estwick said that the `universe boss’ could be explosive against the proteas,

“Chris is very experienced,” Estwick told reporters ahead of the defending champions’ second Super 12 clash against South Africa in Dubai on Tuesday.

“If you look at a lot of the teams, they want to bowl their spinners. And we felt that at number three, it gives him a chance to have a matchup against the spin attack”, he added.

On the other match of the day, Jubilant Pakistan would like to settle the score with New Zealand, the team which abandoned the series against them evacuated.  The chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board and also a former cricketer, Rameez Raza, said that Pakistan will give a harsh reply in the T20 World Cup.

Many present cricketers sharply reacted to the postponement of the series including captain Babar Azam. He then took the twitter and wrote, “Extremely disappointed on the abrupt postponement of the series, which could have brought the smiles back for millions of Pakistan Cricket Fans. I’ve full trust in the capabilities and credibility of our security agencies. They are our pride and always will be!”

Ish Sodhi, a New Zealand leg-spinner told the NZC website that they kept a keen eye on India-Pakistan match to observe the opponents closely

“I have always found bowling to Pakistani batsmen a huge challenge. They play spin really well. They got Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman highly talented batsmen, a big opportunity for us”, he said.

Kyle Jamison, another Kiwi pacer said, “They are a very skillful team, they play a lot of crickets over there (in the UAE), I was fortunate enough to spend some time there in the Indian Premier League” he told NZC. 

Both the teams are sitting side-by-side in the ICC rankings as Pakistan is ranked third and New Zealand is fourth.

Pakistan is oozing with confidence after their massive win against India and New Zealand are also gearing up to start the campaign with a win, though the lost both the warm-up games.