WC,Hafeez on fire; WI lose three wkts

Agencies

Mirpur, 23 March 2011: Off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez struck twice in the sixth over to remove left-hand duo of Devon Smith and Darren Bravo to rattle the West Indies batting line-up.

 

When Darren Bravo went to the pavilion for naught, caught plumb in-front of the wickets off Hafeez, West Indies were tottering at 16/3.

 

In-form Pakistani fast bowler Umar Gul drew first blood for Pakistan as he removed the dangerous West Indian opener Chris Gayle for just 9 in the third over of the match.

 

Gayle, who started off with two adventurous fours, tried to hit one too many of Gul only to be caught at mid-off where captain Shahid Afridi latched on to a sharp catch.

 

Earlier, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy won the toss and elected to bat first in their World Cup quarter-final match against Pakistan.

 

West Indies have been bolstered by the return of dashing opener Chris Gayle and pace spearhead Kemar Roach.

 

The duo was rested for the team`s last league match against India in Chennai, where they lost by 80 runs.

 

Gayle was rested due to abdominal strain while Roach was down with viral fever and stomach infection.

 

West Indies have made three changes to their side bringing in Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kemar Roach in place of Kirk Edwards, Sulieman Benn and Andre Russell.

 

Pakistan have brought in Saeed Ajmal in place of Abdur Rehman.

 

Teams:

 

Pakistan (From): Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal(w), Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi(c), Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Ahmed Shehzad, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Junaid Khan

 

West Indies (From): Devon Smith, Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, R Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kieron Pollard, Devon Thomas(w), Darren Sammy(c), Sulieman Benn, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Nikita Miller, Kirk Edwards, Devendra Bishoo