LAUDERHILL, USA, (CMC) — If the West Indies are to end their 34-year wait for a One-Day International (ODI) bilateral series win over Pakistan, Captain Shai Hope believes it hinges on their ability to play spin bowling.
Hope asserted his side’s 13-run loss to Pakistan in the third and final Twenty20 International (T20I) at the Broward County Stadium on Sunday, which saw them lose the three-match series 2-1.
During that series, West Indies was undone by the left-arm spin of Mohammed Nawaz, who took seven wickets and was named Player-of-the-Series.
Nawaz will also feature in the upcoming three-match ODI series, which bowls off on Friday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad.
Pakistan also boasts of left-arm wrist spinner Sufiyan Muqeem, off-spinner Saim Ayub, and leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed in their ODI squad.
The West Indies last won an ODI series against Pakistan back in 1991 when they prevailed 2-0, and Hope said assessing the conditions quickly and dealing with the spinners that Pakistan will undoubtedly throw at them would be key if they were to emerge victorious.
“The first thing is adaptation. Every single place that we played in the Caribbean or here in the US, conditions are so different.
“So the first thing we need to do is assess, see what the best plans are to formulate for that particular surface, the wind conditions, all these things we have to take into account,” Hope said.
“But you know they’re going to bowl a lot of spin at us, and the way we negate those spinners in the middle overs is going to be very crucial to us as batters.
“Same thing with the ball, we have to find ways to keep making inroads in the same middle overs. So start with the power play, try to put them under pressure from early, and then just try to keep taking wickets throughout the innings and limit the bleeding in the middle,” he added.