ICC Cricket World Cup: Pakistan face West Indies nightmare

When one talks about Pakistan’s bogey team in the ICC Cricket World Cup, the first team that comes to mind is India. Pakistan has never defeated India in the ICC Cricket World Cup ever since their first encounter in the 1992 World Cup in Sydney. The scoreline of 0-6 is used by the Indian cricket team fans to troll Pakistan at each and every World Cup encounter. However, when one takes a closer look at the numbers, India is actually not the real nightmare for Pakistan. The 1992 World Cup champions have a 3-7 scoreline against another team. They are the West Indies, the 1975 and 1979 champions who have dominated Pakistan on the big stage.

Ever since 1975, Pakistan has rarely held the edge against the West Indies in the World Cup. In their first encounter at Birmingham in the 1975 World Cup, Pakistan notched up 266/7 with the fifties from skipper Majid Khan, Wasim Raja and Mushtaq Mohammad. In response, West Indies were staring down the barrel at 166/8 but Deryck Murray held the key. Murray stitched a 37-run stand with Vanburn Holder but when he fell, West Indies were still 64 runs away. Andy Roberts showed his mettle and his 64-run stand helped West Indies cross the line by one wicket. Roberts’ unbeaten 24 and Murray’s 61 helped West Indies over the line in a humdinger.

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Things were much more clinical in the 1979 World Cup with West Indies registering 293/6 with Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes hammering 65. In response, Majid and Zaheer Abbas blasted 81 and 93 respectively but Colin Croft’s 3/29 helped West Indies to a 43-run win. In 1983, Pakistan was blown away for 184 thanks to a brilliant spell from Malcolm Marshall and West Indies romped home to an eight-wicket win with Viv Richards smashing an unbeaten 80.

In 1987, with the World Cup moving out of England, Pakistan squared off against West Indies in Lahore and Imran Khan’s brilliant 4/37 restricting West Indies to 216/7. Saleem Yousuf kept Pakistan in the hunt with 56 and the last wicket stand between Abdul Qadir and Saleem Jaffar was vital. Courtney Walsh, who had taken 4/40, refused a mankading opportunity and Pakistan won by one wicket. West Indies avenged the loss in the same edition when Sir Viv Richards blasted 110 and gave West Indies a 28-run win.

In the 1992 World Cup encounter in Melbourne, Ramiz Raja blasted a century but Desmond Haynes’ 93 and Brian Lara’s 88 gave West Indies a 10-wicket win. In the 1999 World Cup encounter in Bristol, Azhar Mahmood and Wasim Akram’s exploits with the bat helped Pakistan reach 229/8. Mahmood chipped with the ball as well by taking 3/48 as Pakistan won by 27 runs. In the 2007 World Cup clash in Kingston, Marlon Samuels blasted 63 and three-wicket hauls from Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith helped them win by 54 runs in front of their home fans in Kingston.

The only time Pakistan clinically dominated the West Indies was in the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal in Dhaka. Shahid Afridi picked up 4/30 and Pakistan thumped the Windies by 10 wickets. In the 2015 clash in Christchurch, West Indies reached 310/6 thanks to fifties from Denesh Ramdin and Lendl Simmons but Andre Russell’s 13-ball 42 made the difference. Pakistan was reduced to 25/5 and despite the fifties from Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Akmal, West Indies won by 150 runs.

Will Pakistan overcome their jinx against West Indies in the 2019 World Cup or will the West Indies continue their domination?

HIGHLIGHTS

• Pakistan won only in 1987, 1999 and 2011 against West Indies in World Cups.
• Pakistan has won only once in the ICC Cricket World Cup in England against West Indies.
• Pakistan has lost nine out of 10 ODI games before the World Cup.