Buoyant Pakistan on pole against rattled Windies

DHAKA: Confident Pakistan take on West Indies in the World Cup quarter-final on Wednesday in hopes of continuing their winning streak in the tournament against a team battered by recent defeats.
The enormous talent, but unpredictable, Pakistanis were the revelation of the tournament so far by winning Group A with five wins in six matches in the preliminary league.
The West Indies inexplicably lost their last two games against England and India from dominant positions to finish fourth in Group B with three wins, along with Bangladesh, but with a higher annual rate.
Pakistan Shahid Afridi saved the best for last, when they broke three times undefeated champions Australia to 34 matches of World Cup with a four-wicket win in Colombo on Saturday.
It was that Pakistan needed tonic after being stripped of cricket big-time at home due to problems of security in their volatile country and tainted by a dubious spot fixing scandal.
The absence of former captain Salman Butt and pace spearhead Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer because of the controversy was not tried as the team rallied superbly inspired by their captain.
Afridi is the top bowler of the tournament with 17 wickets with his leg-breaks fastish, while seamer Umar Gul kept the pressure on the other end with 13 wickets.
All-rounder Afridi may have failed with the bat so far with only 65 runs in six games, but the young guns Asad Shafiq Umar Akmal and shone in their first World Cup.
Akmal scored 211 runs at 52.75 and Shafiq averages 124 in the two games he has played so far, while seniors the likes of Misbah-ul Haq and Younis Khan have lent strength to the middle of order.
Intikhab Alam team manager, who was the coach when Pakistan won the World Cup 1992 under Imran Khan, was delighted with his team's performance so far.
The former captain attributed the success of "self-confidence, fitness and high levels of energy."
"There are a lot of positive energy among boys after win over Australia and we hold the quarterfinals," said Intikhab. "We're peaking at the right time."
The West Indies, however, seem to be collapsing when it matters most.
They were on the verge of victory against England at Chennai, who followed a modest target of 244, they were comfortably placed at 222-6, before losing their last four wickets for three points.
Against India on Sunday, they again yielded only eight wickets fell for 34 runs after they were 154-2 and lost by 80 points.
The West Indies have now lost 18 successive games against big nations, Darren Sammy, but men can not afford another defeat in the playoffs.
All, however, is not over yet for the West Indies.
They return to the stage Sher-e-Bangla in Dhaka, where they fired on Bangladesh for their lowest total for a day 58 in the league to romp home by nine wickets in a match that lasted less than two hours.
Batting star Chris Gayle and key fast bowler Kemar Roach should be back after missing the match in India, Gayle with abdominal strain and Roach due to illness.
Sammy said he was aware of the threat from Pakistan, but he remained confident his team can bounce back.
"Pakistan has done well so far but we hope they will have a bad game against us and we will bring our A game," he said.