Karachi : Pakistan will have a tough task on its hands when it goes head to head with the West Indies in a five-ODI series which starts on Saturday in St Lucia, a country where it lost a sensational ICC World Twenty20
2010 semi-final by three wickets to Australia 11 months ago.Sixth-place Pakistan starts the series with a difference of 35 rating points relative to eighth-placedWest Indies in the Reliance ICC ODI Championship table. This gap means it is expected to win the series convincingly. As such, because the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference, failure towin comfortably will mean Pakistan will drop points.In fact, the only way Pakistan will not drop points is in the scenario of it winning all the matches of the series. In this situation, Pakistan will earn just one rating point while the home side will concede two ratings points.However, if Pakistan wins the series 4-1, it will surrender one ratings point while in case of a 3-2 series win it will drop three points. In sharp contrast, the West Indies will earn points in both these scenarios – one in case of a 4-1 defeat and three in case of a 3-2 loss.In the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings, the highest-ranked players from either side are Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi who is third in the all-rounders’ list and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal who is in 17th spot in the bowlers’ table.In the absence of Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, at least from the first two ODIs, the highest-ranked West Indies batsman is Dwayne Bravo in 76th position. Meanwhile, there isno Pakistan batsman inside the top 20 but Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq figure inside the top 40 and will be eyeing upward movement. Series schedule:23 Apr – First ODI, Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia25 Apr – Second ODI, Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia28 Apr – Third ODI, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados2 May – Fourth ODI, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados5 May – Fifth ODI, Providence Stadium, Guyana. PPI