Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has hailed Pakistan’s unpredictability as a positive, ahead of Friday’s opening World Cup fixture against the West Indies at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

Pakistan are the reigning 2017 Champions Trophy – and currently occupy sixth position in the International Cricket Council’s rankings for ODI teams.

The West Indies and Pakistan have met 130 times in the intermediate format of the international game. The former have won 70 and the latter 60, with three no-results.

‘I think it’s good to be unpredictable. All teams are scared because of Pakistan. At the end of the day, the Pakistan team is very dangerous. So it’s good to be for the World Cup very unpredictable, so it will affect the whole outcome,’ said Ahmed.

Pakistan made a couple of late changes to squad for the World Cup, adding left-arm seamers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz in an attempt to boost the bowling resources.

‘If you contain any teams, you have to take wickets. If you’re not taking wickets here, you’ve got to stop runs,’ added Ahmed.

‘Whether you play England, you play West Indies or Australia, you have to take [wickets] if you stop any team.’

England, meanwhile, beat South Africa by 104 runs in the opening match of the 2019 World Cup at The Oval in London on Thursday.

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