KARACHI: If being shorn of their top players because of injury or any other way wasn’t enough for the West Indies, Covid-19 has denied them of three additional players for the Twenty20 series against Pakistan beginning from Monday.
Pacer Sheldon Cottrell and all-rounders Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers generally tried positive for Covid on Saturday night, lessening the 15-man voyaging party for the three T20s to 12.
From those leftover ones, just player Rovman Powell and bowling all-rounder Odean Smith have any experience of playing in Pakistan — the couple being in the West Indies group which last visited the country in 2018.
Be that as it may, for captain Nicolas Pooran, who is just driving the side after Kieron Pollard neglected to recuperate from a physical issue, it’s a chance for new faces to go to the front.
“Clearly Pakistan are playing awesome cricket and are in their prime,” Pooran said during a virtual news gathering on Sunday about Babar Azam’s side who come into the series with a 3-0 whitewash of Bangladesh which followed their trouping run into the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup.
“In any case, this is T20 cricket and it tends to be anybody’s down. Indeed, even the top players can have an awful day so I’m not very stressed over the inability of my side. Obviously we comprehend the Pakistan will have the group behind them yet by the day’s end it’s a round of cricket.”
After West Indies’ frustrating T20 World Cup crusade, where they left in the gathering stage in a tame acquiescence of their title, star all-rounder Dwayne Bravo hung up his boots while bold opener Chris Gayle likewise implied he was going towards retirement.
Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, and Andre Russell quit the Pakistan visit because of individual reasons and from the World Cup crew, just Pooran and Oshane Thomas stay with Chase sidelined by infection.
“Tragically we had the Covid-19 cases,” Pooran said. “It has impacted our unique plans yet presently different folks have the chance to grandstand their ability. I need to perceive how we play together and I’m eager to witness what’s going to.”
Babar, in the mean time, cautioned his side against lowering their defenses against the West Indies regardless of beginning the series as weighty top choices.
“We won’t trifle with them since they didn’t bring their best players,” Babar told a virtual news gathering on Sunday.
“The people who are here are of global norm … they’ve played in the Caribbean Premier League and worldwide matches too so we need to give our 100%.
“We need to convey the energy and the certainty that we have acquired during the World Cup and the visit through Bangladesh.”
He felt for the West Indies, who are continuing with the series notwithstanding the good infection cases.
“It’s a troublesome time for a group when a player tests positive,” Babar said. “It’s hard to live in disengagement and we have gone through this. Bunches of negative things do come to you when you are distant from everyone else in the room and the group blend likewise gets impacted.”
Babar has driven from the front with his runs with Pakistan having won eight of their last nine T20 Internationals — the main loss coming against inevitable T20 World Cup champions Australia in the semi-finals.
Babar was likewise confident that the West Indies series will help the arrival of worldwide cricket in Pakistan.
Pakistan cricket was shaken in September when New Zealand deserted their visit because of a security alert in September with England pulling out their group from their series in October.
“It is critical that this series is going on,” said Babar, “and we like West Indies for coming to play on the grounds that there were fears whether or not groups will visit Pakistan.”
With the public authority permitting full limit swarms at the National Stadium interestingly since the Covid-19 pandemic, Babar was confident fans will get to see some quality cricket.
“I’m certain with 100% groups permitted, we will have engaging cricket,” he said, with the second T20 coming on Tuesday and the last round of the series being played on Thursday, in front of the three-match One-day International series.
