Pakistan beat West Indies by 63 runs to become the first team to win 18 T20Is in a calendar year. West Indies had a mountain to climb as they needed 201 runs to win but they did not start well and lost 3 wickets inside the Powerplay. Shai Hope dug in but he too perished just when he was looking to up the ante. Windies batters were finding it hard to time the ball in the middle and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Rovman Powell came lower down the order and he hit a couple of lusty blows but threw away his wicket. In the end, the hosts suffered a comprehensive defeat of 63 runs.
Haider Ali, is the Player of the Match for his outstanding knock with the bat. He says that he will rate this innings 10 out of 10 and adds that Rizwan supported him well during his innings. He adds that the pitch was difficult and they wanted to take chances against seamers and pick the bowlers to hit. Babar Azam, the skipper of Pakistan, says that they batted really well and credits Haider Ali by saying that he played a good innings. Adds that Mohammad Nawaz finished extremely well with the bat and he even bowled well in the middle overs. Tells that they would look to utilize the bench strength of their squad in the remaining games.
Pakistan were outstanding with the ball right from the word go and it was Mohammad Nawaz who set the tone upfront. However, it was Mohammad Wasim who opened the floodgates and the Windies’ batters had no answers to it. Shadab Khan was introduced after the Powerplay and he too was exceptional as he picked up three crucial wickets and put the visitors on the back foot.
Mohammad Rizwan and Haider Ali struck fiery half centuries. Rizwan smashed a 52-ball 78 with 10 boundaries which is his 12th half-century and 11th this year. While Haider scored a career-best 68 to guide the hosts to 200-6 in their 20 overs. The visitors were never in hunt of the target as they were dismantled by a superior Pakistan bowling attack and folded at 137 in 19 overs.
Fast bowler Mohammad Wasim took career best 4-40 while spinner Shadab Khan grabbed 3-17. This becomes Pakistan’s 13th win in 19 Twenty20 internationals against West Indies, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Haider cracked four sixes and six boundaries in his 39-ball knock.
