West Indies tour of Pakistan

Well, well, well. Exciting news for cricket lovers in Pakistan and all over the world as the PCB have announced a 3-match T20 series to be hosted in Pakistan in March of 2018.

From the immensely successful World XI tour and T20 played against Sri Lanka in the past few months, it can be said that Pakistan cricket is going forwards. 

From winning the Test series against the West Indies in the Carribean for the first time, I felt that Pakistan cricket was on the road to something special. And this was ultimately demonstrated in Pakistan going on the winning the ICC Champions Trophy in a thumping victory against arch-rivals India in the Finals. This feat is something that I believe will be remembered in cricket folklore for many years to come. Not only did this tournament capture the spirit of Pakistan cricket but also the “cornered tiger” nature in which they played with. 

Furthermore, despite Pakistan suffering a 2-0 loss to Sri Lanka in Test matches which was a first series loss for Pakistan in their adopted home grounds of the UAE. However, Pakistan’s ruthless and truly exciting bowling attack was unleashed in the shorter formats resulting in a 5-0 and 3-0 series sweep in the ODIs and T20s respectively. This not only demonstrated the oozing talent that Pakistan has, but also the outstanding performances were given by the younger players under the captaincy of Sarfaraz Ahmed. 

However, it must be considered that while Pakistan was able to destroy a very vulnerable Sri Lankan team, their next tour to New Zealand will be a series that will truly challenge what is a formidable bowling attack recently produced by Pakistan. 

I am personally looking forward to this West Indies tour of Pakistan. The current T20 Word Cup Champions have struggled to compete much against the newly crowned number one T20 team (Pakistan). Hence, it will be interesting to see how West Indian players participating in the Pakistan Super League will bring their developed experience of Pakistani conditions in the next coming months.