Green top may welcome Pakistan and West Indies in Chennai

A win on Wednesday would be the right step in reviving Pakistan’s hopes of a respectable finish (they haven’t reached the semi-final even once) while the West Indies would be keen to get back to winning ways, after having lost their only warm-up match to Australia. 

While a huge brouhaha surrounded the participation of Pakistan in the tournament, the melee had robbed the team of quality match practice. However, all-rounder Asmavia Iqbal said the team’s morale is upbeat. “We are here to win. 

Although we haven’t played any practice matches, we would go all out to win. We have played against the West Indies and we know their strength and weakness. The key would be to stay focused,” Iqbal said in a pre-match press conference. 

While many would expect a classic turning wicket in the sub-continent, the pitch at the stadium had a tinge of grass on it. The wicket would be sportive for both the teams as they have quality medium-fast bowlers. The condition of the pitch, however, raised eyebrows in the Pakistan camp. “I was surprised to see the grass. It would help the fast bowlers.

In my opinion, the pitches should help all bowlers to have an even contest,” Iqbal said. Pakistan would be wary of batter Stafanie Taylor and bowler Deandra Dottin, who can potentially be match winners on their day. However, Iqbal said her camp has plans in place to counter attack. “We have seen seen videos of Dottin bowls and Stephanie bats. 

We have our plans in place and it is all about execution,” Iqbal stressed. West Indies off-spinner Anisa Mohammed said the warm-up loss was a wake-up call at the right time. “It was good that we lost a game in the beginning of the tournament. 

Now we look to go forward from there. We are ready for Pakistan and have played them before and so we know what to expect from them,” Mohammed said. The spinner said 150 would be a par score and the focus would be on building partnerships. 

“We need to focus on building partnerships. Once we have bigger partnerships, we can have big scores. We have the bowling to back that up,” Mohammed added. Both the teams would bank on all-round performance and in Bismah Maroof and Sana Mir, Pakistan can bank on experience while Aliya Riaz, Nida Dar and Asmavia Iqbal can be devastating with the bat. The Caribbean women have, on the contrary, Taylor, Dottin, Shakera Selman and Stacy-Ann King in their ranks to produce fireworks.