 Kenya will play Pakistani at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium,
Sooriyawewa, Hambantota in the sixth Cricket World Cup game of the tournament.
the match will be played on February 23.
Pakistan will be playing in their first game and will be happier to play a
side like Kenya first up. After all, it has been playing cricket in New Zealand
for a period of almost more than a month and a half and would like to get used
to pitches back in the sub-continent.
Click for Live Score Card of Pakistan Vs Kenya
They did have a couple of warm-up games first up, but they could win only against
Bangladesh while going down to England. With Kenya up next, it will make sense
for them to feel good about themselves and would be favourites to win the match.
Pakistan will be led by Shahid Afridi who will play a major role with
the ball, as would the likes of Abdul Razzaq and Abdur Rehman. The other bowlers
in the side are Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz and one gets the
sense that it will be a toss-up between these three for two spots.
They may go for the pace of Akhtar for sure given the manner in which the Kenyans
had collapsed against Hamish Bennett in the first game.
The batting will depend on the opening pair of Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez,
both of who have shown good form in recent times. But more importantly, the
likes of Younis Khan and Misbah ul Haq will need to ensure that they
ward off any collapses in the middle order. Afridi and Razzaq could then look
to play some aggressive cricket towards the end of the innings to go for the
jugular.
Instead, Kenya will strive hard to prevent their previous game collapse from
happening. The reason for that is that they scored only 69 in the previous game
and collapsed like minnows playing in their first match - something that will
hurt their chances greatly.
What the side could look to do is to ensure that they don't lose any wickets
in the first 20 overs, and give up on scoring runs even. Over the time once
the batsmen get used to the wicket, the run-scoring could become easier as was
the case in the previous game between Australia and Zimbabwe.
Batting first will be the best option for both the sides at a ground where
the dew hasn't quite been there and that would be how the sides will go.
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