West Indies (Playing XI): Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran(w), Kieron Pollard(c), Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Dwayne Bravo, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh, Akeal Hosein

West Indies have won the toss and have opted to bat

Kieron Pollard: We gonna bat first. Yesterday there was moisture earlier and the second half it was keeping a bit low. Very pleasing about the bowling and for us we strive for consistency in everything we do. Just one change. A forced changed

Pitch report: For nearly two years there was no cricket here at this ground. There's been some rain this morning and reckon the pitch will be better for batting than yesterday. It's more firmer (the pitch) than yesterday. Normally the stats suggest that the team that chases wins the most games here," reckons Colin Croft.

Nicholas Pooran: Very pleasing for me, very happy and very thankful for yesterday. It's a big concern (batting against spin) and we spoke about, wickets in Guyana is tough, low and inconsistent. We are trying to work on our dot ball percentage, and playing in Guyana doesn't make it easier for the batsmen. We spoke about it yesterday as well, we have our plans and hopefully today we can go in and eliminate the dot ball percentage. It wasn't easy in the last game, in Guyana wickets whichever batsman is in you have to take advantage of that. I'm blessed and talented and work really hard, happy for yesterday. Hopefully we can be more positive today and we felt Shadab Khan was the biggest threat being the legspinner and he didn't get any wickets yesterday. Mohammad Hafeez bowled really well, yesterday was his day, hopefully our batsmen have different plans today and put pressure on him today.

The umpires have had the inspection and the captains seem almost ready for the toss. Okay, so the official word is: toss at 11:00 local, start at 11:15. No overs lost. It has brightened up considerably in the last few minutes and let's hope it stays that way for the rest of the contest.

10:42 local: Good news, folks! Hearing that the rain has stopped and we should have the toss soon.

10:38 local: We should have had the toss by now, but unfortunately it has started to rain which is causing the delay. The entire square is under covers now.

Pakistan, on the other hand, look solid. The presence of two of their best white-ball players in the top-three always helps, but it's their spinners who had the fun ride in the last game. It took a good few seconds for Hafeez to realise and rejoice his 'Player of the Match' award, for his bowling of course, in the last game. If anything, their pacers will have to pass the death-overs-test, a trend that seems to be an area of concern in the recent past. The weather looks okay for now, but expect at least, a couple of rain breaks during the course of the game. All important toss coming up shortly, stay tuned...

Though Kieron Pollard, recently, showed signs of frustration regarding the abrasive surfaces on offer for most of white-ball


summer, West Indies seems to have a method to implode against spin and the lack of strike rotation seems to be their Achilles heel while at it. The surfaces in UAE, for IPL and the mega event thereafter, won't be too dissimilar and the home team needs to find a way to put this spin-scare to rest. One could argue about the consistency of team selections and the too-much-left-handed-ness in the middle-order, but in fairness, the West Indies tried most tactics to counter spin only to instigate further wounds.

10:00 local, 19:00 Pakistan time: George Linde. Tabraiz Shamsi. Adam Zampa. Mohammad Hafeez. Nope, this is no draft for the upcoming CPL, they just know a thing or two about drifting a cricket ball. West Indies, the ever-impressive T20 giants, played eleven-and-a-quarter T20 games in the last 30 days and have lost five (one game was a no-result) of them. All the aforementioned cricketers had a massive role in each one of those games and strikingly, all the defeats came while chasing. And to imagine that the Windies failed to chase totals r