Pakistan managed to continue their domination over West Indies in the T20I series, ending the three-match contest with an impressive 3-0 whitewash in Karachi on December 16. The hosts came out triumphant despite being set a gigantic target of 208 to chase in the second half.
Pakistan failed to come up with their best with the ball but had enough gas in the tank with the bat to take the game back to the opposition and eventually win.
Once again, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan was the stand-out batter for Pakistan, blazing his willow for an aggressive 87 off 45 balls. He shared another century plus stand with captain Babar Azam at the top. Babar added one more attractive and solid half-century (79) to his amazing T20I career tally.
The experienced duo laid the foundation to Pakistan’s run-chase with a 158-run partnership at the top before a cameo from Asif Ali (21* off 12) took the team home with an over to spare.
For WI, it was another painful reminder of their bowling woes in the shortest form of the game. Despite defending over 200 runs on the board, hardly any of their bowlers looked in any sort of control or managed to pile on the pressure for Babar and Rizwan. Gudakesh Motie was the most economical, with a spell of 0/29. But the rest went for plenty.
With the ball, the case was not too dissimilar for Pakistan in the first half as they allowed the inexperienced and short-of-confidence visiting batting unit to post a score of 207/3. Shahnawaz Dahani (1/23) was the only bowler to keep a leash on run-scoring at his end. But in the absence of Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan’s bowling depth was found wanting on a flat pitch.
Stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran finally came up with his best with the bat for West Indies, playing his knock of 64 off just 37 balls. This, after Brandon King (43) and Shamarh Brooks (49), provided West Indies a solid start. They added 66 runs inside the powerplay. But despite the effort of these three, West Indies fell short by 10-15 runs for their bowling on the night, which also raised the eyebrows on Darren Bravo’s 27-ball 34 at No.4.
Brief scores
West Indies 207/3 in 20 overs (Pooran 64, Brooks 49; Wasim Jr 2/44) lost to Pakistan 208/3 in 18.5 overs (Rizwan 87, Azam 79; Motie 0/29) by 7 wickets
