Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd T20I: 5 Talking Points

After winning the first game comprehensively, Pakistan was looking to gain an unassailable lead in the 3-match series over West Indies. They had put up a clinical performance in the first match having the better of the opposition in all the three departments of the game. Imad Wasim was the star of the show who bagged a brilliant five-wicket haul and scripted an easy win for his team by 9 wickets.

Both teams went into this game unchanged from the previous encounter. The dew on the outfield played a crucial game yesterday and hence Carlos Brathwaite won the toss and decided to chase. Pakistan did not get off to a great start and lost early wickets, but due to some good performances with the bat late in the innings, they put up a decent target of 160 runs on the board.

As far as West Indies batting is concerned, the story was not too different from that in the last game. They crumbled from the beginning and none of the batsmen found it easy out in the middle. Pakistan was once again excellent with the ball and never allowed the strong West Indies batting to make a return in the game. Pakistan won the game by 16 runs to get a 2-0 lead in the 3-match series which meant that the final game in Abu Dhabi will be inconsequential to the result of the series.

Here are the five major talking points from the game:

Humidity took toll on the Windies

The men from the Caribbean were seen struggling a lot under the humid conditions of Dubai. Especially the fast bowlers were sweating from top to bottom and found it very difficult under the alien atmosphere. The dew on the outfield, plus the sweaty palms made life uneasy for them. The captain Carlos Brathwaite after finishing his quota of overs was uncomfortable in even communicating with his fellow players who were all carrying a handkerchief and kept wiping off the perspiration from the body.

Malik-Sarfaraz partnership

After Latif was dismissed in the 12^th over, there was a nice platform set for the middle order to take the innings to a sizeable score. With just over 8 overs to go, Shoaib Malik and the skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed got together and began to accelerate. They crafted the innings beautifully and handled the spin mystery of Sunil Narine pretty comfortably as they ensured that the spinner went wicketless. The duo put on 69 runs together and paced the end overs very well. Malik scored 37 before getting out in the last over and Sarfaraz remained unbeaten on 46 to take Pakistan to a respectable total of 160 at the end of 20 overs.

Powerplay woes continued for WI

In the first game, West Indies had lost half their side well inside the powerplay and could not recover from the losses. They went through a similar scenario in the second game too as they lost 3 wickets and managed only 20 runs after 6 overs. Imad Wasim continued his good vein of form when he removed Johnson Charles in the 3^rd over. Sohail Tanvir then struck twice in quick succession to send the West Indies deeper into trouble. Marlon Samuels’ horrible run extended as he went back playing an awkward shot edging the ball to the keeper off Tanvir.

Also read – Imad can be the next Daniel Vettori: Iqbal Qasim

Sarfaraz’s commendable captaincy

Having a decent score on the board, Sarfaraz was proactive right from the start with his bowling changes and field placements. He had a fielder at long-on in the 3^rd over who caught Johnson Charles and a slip to Evin Lewis which accounted for his wicket. He was at the batsmen all the times and looked for wickets which tightened the screws on the batting. In the middle overs, he edged on his pacer Wahab Riaz to deliver his natural pace and he did respond beautifully with a superb over. Sarfaraz manoeuvred his bowlers brilliantly with a perfect mix of spin and pace which meant West Indies never had a sniff in the game. Sarfaraz now has a 100% win record as a Pakistani skipper winning 3 matches in a row.

Pakistan’s dominating bowling

It was two days in a row that the Pakistan bowlers had their say over the West Indies batsmen. Imad Wasim carried on his merry way and ended with figures of 18/1 in 4 overs. Mohammad Nawaz removed Dwayne Bravo just as he was starting to look dangerous. Hasan Ali played his part with 3 wickets despite going for a few runs at the end. But the pick of the bowlers was Sohail Tanvir who dismantled the batting with the two quick wickets in the powerplay. He came back in the final spell to pick up one more wicket and finished with figures of 13/3 to give Pakistan the series win with a game to play.