Image courtesy of: sialnews.com
Pakistan whitewashed the West Indies 2-0
Pakistan batting duo Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad helped their side secure a series whitewash against the West Indies as they both recorded scores in the forties to give Pakistan an 11-run win in St Vincent.
Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez won the toss and elected to bat first as he wanted his spinners to make use of the pitch later on into the day.
Despite losing the toss, the West Indies responded well as skipper Darren Sammy and spinner Samuel Badree took out Hafeez, Umar Amin and Harris Sohail in quick succession.
However, Shehzad’s 44 off 46 deliveries, which included four boundaries and two sixes, helped restore the Pakistan innings.
Despite the Pakistan middle and lower order continuing to succumb to the pressure of the West Indies bowling attack, Akmal provided a late boost to take his side to a score of 135 after 20 overs, thanks to his 46 off 36 deliveries, which included three boundaries and one maximum.
West Indian spinner Sunil Narine caused the most damage with three wickets, while Badree picked up two and Sammy and Kieron Pollard chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Chasing a relatively straightforward target of 136 to win, the West Indies found themselves in a huge hole early on as the Pakistan bowlers ripped through four of their top order batsmen to leave the West Indies reeling at 17/4.
A 47-run partnership between Narine and Dwayne Bravo helped stabilise the innings before Narine was dismissed by Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal for 28 off 16 balls, which included three boundaries and one six.
Pollard added 23 runs off 10 balls to bring the West Indies back into contention, but he and Bravo, who made 35, were literally dismissed right after each other.
From there on, the Pakistan bowlers tore right through the West Indian tailenders and the men from the Caribbean finished on 124/9 after their 20 overs.
Pace bowler Tino Best put up an excellent fight towards the end, finishing unbeaten on 17 off nine balls, which included two sixes.
Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar and Sohail Tanvir all snapped up two wickets each, while Hafeez and Shahid Afridi added one wicket apiece.
Sammy was disappointed at having been whitewashed 2-0 and blamed the batting department for collapsing under pressure.
“We could have restricted them, but they played well in the end,” he said. “We lost a lot of wickets in our first six overs, and then it was a difficult task for Pollard and Bravo to come and score at 12-13 runs an over. We just didn’t bat well enough at the start. I think we as a batting team have to give ourselves a chance. We have different types of players and I can’t tell them how to go about batting, but when you have a difficult pitch, you have to give yourselves a chance and capitalise in the end.”
Hafeez was pleased to have won the Twenty20 series right after a successful ODI series as well.
“It was a tough tour, credit goes to the team and the coaches for their hard work,” he said. “We did not play well in the last two tours so we needed this victory. Once we scored 135, we had four spinners in our team and we were confident. Thanks to Misbah, we got the momentum from the ODI series and carried it into the T20s. I’m really happy to see youngsters coming into the team, like Umar Amin. And Zulfiqar Babar also performed.”
Akmal was named the Man of the Match, while Babar picked up the Man of the Series award in his first international tour.