West Indies vs Pakistan 3rd ODI: Five players to watch out for

West Indies and Pakistan shared the spoils at Guyana and the next chapter of the battle will be written in St. Lucia at the Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet.

Pakistan owed their victory in the first match to the showmanship of Shahid Afridi, whereas West Indies clinched the second win through a determined team effort that was capped by Narine’s exploits. Both the teams desperately want to win this critical series.

Pakistan are looking to make a comeback after their disastrous Champions Trophy campaign, whereas West Indies are trying to improve upon their dismal international record of the last six months with the only series win coming against Zimbabwe. The winner of the 3rd ODI will have a considerable advantage going into the final leg of the series as the other team will be put under pressure.

Pakistan’s batting has consistently let them down in the recent past. The top order failed miserably in the first match; and when it did show some resistance during the chase in the 2nd ODI, the lower middle order suffered a meltdown. They are lucky to have a match-winning bowling department, but they gave away almost 40 extras in the last game which is simply unacceptable.

West Indies suffer from similar troubles. Almost the entire team has been short of runs in the recent past, but Marlon Samuels, Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard have struggled the most. These problems are aggravated by the fact that West Indies have been rather wasteful in the field. Both the teams need to address these issues.

Here is a list of five players who can make an impact in the 3rd ODI:

5. Dwayne Bravo 

The West Indian captain played a responsible innings in the last match, remaining undefeated with 43 critical runs at the end of the first innings as they defeated Pakistan by 37 runs. He becomes a more potent batsman in the lower middle order when he has a platform to build upon, and so he’ll be hoping that the likes of Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo come to the party.

He was positive as a captain and looked upbeat in spite of losing the toss, and talked about the importance of runs on the board. This seems to be the only tactic that will give West Indies their best chance to perform in this series, given that their batsmen have the tendency to break under the pressure of a target.