Pakistan will take on the West Indies in the first of the three-match ODI series. This article provides details about Pakistan’s Playing 11 vs West Indies for the first match of the series.
Pakistan Playing 11 vs West Indies- 1st ODI, Pakistan tour of West Indies 2025:
Openers: Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub
Pakistan would be high on confidence after registering a 2-1 series win against the West Indies, as the Men in Green were going through a lean patch after a shocking series defeat against Bangladesh.
The former ODI World Cup winners would like to take the momentum of the T20I series win into ODIs against the same opposition.
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The Men in Green will be led by Mohammad Rizwan for the ODI leg of the tour, which sees the return of experienced players like Naseem Shah and former captain Babar Azam.
Having said that, Pakistan dealt a major blow before the start of the series with senior batter Fakhar Zaman being ruled out of all three ODI games.
An injury to Fakhar means that Pakistan are certain to open the batting with Saim Ayub and Abdulla Shafique at least in the opening match of the series.
The duo is relatively inexperienced in the ODI format of the game and would want to make the most of the opportunity that has come their way.
There is not much to talk about the performances of both openers as both of them have played a total of 33 matches, with Shafique being the senior partner with 24 ODI appearances.
Ayub, on the other hand, has played just nine ODI matches so far in his international career.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk/c), Salman Ali Agha, Hasan Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz
The lack of experience at the top will be covered by a middle order, which comprises the likes of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Salman Ali Agha.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will be playing an international match after quite some time and would wish to put their best foot forward, being the senior batters of the team.
The experienced pair of Babar and Rizwan will be followed by Salman Ali Agha, who, in a short period, has made a name for himself as a reliable middle-order batter and would like to perform accordingly.
A major decision that the visitors need to make is who will play at number six and fulfill the finisher’s role, which Iftikhar Ahmed used to do in the past.
The toss-up will be between Hasan Nawaz and Mohammad Haris, and the former might pip the latter in the race.
Bowlers: Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed
Pakistan would want its bowlers to put on a strong show with the ball, like they did in the T20I series against the same opposition.
The onus will be on the experienced fast bowling pair of Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah. Naseem would like to get things right from the first ball, like Shaheen, who would also hope to build on his good outing in the T20I series.
Faheem Ashraf is expected to be the fast-bowling all-rounder that the Men in Green have been searching for in all three formats to provide much-needed stability to the team.
The spin bowling department will be handled by Abrar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz, both of whom would look to create pressure and pick up wickets in the middle overs.
