West Indies eye elusive series win

Tue, Apr 11, '17

The three-match series between West Indies and Pakistan is level at 1-1 ahead of the final game of at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Tuesday (April 11). If Jason Mohammed and Ashley Nurse stole the show in the first One-Day International, Babar Azam and Hasan Ali pulled one back in the visitors' favour in the second outing. Pressure is slightly more on the hosts than Pakistan going into the decider as a victory will not only give them a series win, but also better their chances of achieving an automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup.

This is the scenario according to the ICC's ODI Team Rankings Predictor. A win for West Indies will get them up to 85 points and Pakistan down by one point to 88. A Pakistan victory will see them climb to 90 points while West Indies will slip considerably, to 82 points.

West Indies, who failed to qualify for the upcoming Champions Trophy, do need to bear in mind that they only have nine more ODIs (3 against Afghanistan, 1 against Ireland and 5 against England) before the September 30, 2017 cut-off date to better their standings. Few players left out due to poor form, few having issues with the cricket board, few choosing franchise over country - whatever may be the reason, an avid cricket fan would ideally want the two-time world champions to earn a direct entry for the 2019 event.