Pakistan v West Indies, T20I series – West Indies Player Ratings

s high and believed they could beat the Asian heavyweights despite the fact that it was a home series for them. But as it turns out after the end of the first leg, the T20I series they are gasping and remain unsure of a strategy or tactic that could change the outcome in their favor.

Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed won the toss in the first game and invited the visitors to bat first, they could only score a 115 and eventually lost the game. When the coin flipped Carlos Brathwaite’s way in the second match he wanted the hosts to bat first but that didn’t change anything either, as Pakistan posted a 160 and his team once again fell short, by 15 runs this time. The last T20I summed up how uncompetitive the series had been. Batting first all Windies managed was a 103 runs and the Pakistanis chased it down with almost 5 overs to spare and 8 wickets in hand. It was a completely one-sided affair right through as most of the players from the Caribbean team failed to get going. Here we try to rate them for their performances.

Johnson Charles – 3/10

One of the biggest reasons for West Indies’ slump in the series was Johnson Charles’ poor form. The right-hander who has played 34 T20Is for the team could score just 22 runs in the three matches and the fact that Jerome Taylor and Sunil Narine scored more runs in the series further goes on to depict how unsuccessful Charles was. He couldn’t give the team a substantial start in either of the games which put additional pressure on the guys coming in to bat after him.

Evin Lewis – 3/10

After the kind of start Ervin Lewis gave the team in the opening T20I of the series against India in the United States, a lot was expected from him. But if Charles is blamed for getting out early Lewis’ crime was of grave given the fact that he didn’t show any sense of responsibility and rather than playing out the opening assault from the Pakistani bowlers and getting into the act later on, perished in the first spell in both the games that he played. Having scored a meager 4 runs he was dropped for the 3rd T20I.

Andre Fletcher – 4/10

Andre Fletcher was there to provide solidity to the batting order. Someone with a solid batting technique and having played international cricket for a few years Fletcher should have ideally bailed the team out of early troubles given the fact that he walks in at No. 3 the most important position in the batting order. But irrespective of what he should have done he managed to score just 40 runs in the three games.

Also read – Pakistan v West Indies, 3rd T20I Review: Pakistan clean sweeps West Indies

Marlon Samuels – 5/10

It’s a continuation of the same story. The Pakistan bowlers realized how big a trouble Marlon Samuels could create if they don’t get rid of him early in the innings when he is the most vulnerable to get out. They did that in the first two T20Is and he scored 4 and 1 in those games. But when he walked out to bat in the last match in the 3^rd over itself he showed some composure. Samuels stood by, respected the bowlers and took his time to score the 42*. He got those runs with the minimum amount of risk and stayed unbeaten at the end of the inning but that didn’t help the team’s cause either as they could only post a target of 103 runs ahead of Pakistan which was never going to be enough.

Dwayne Bravo – 5/10

Dwayne Bravo was the only man who did his part partially. He had a great start to the series with the bat scoring a half century in the opening T20I. The Pakistani’s had their plans in place for him and didn’t let him get off the hook in the remaining two matches. Bravo has 84 runs in his account at the end of the series and equating the expectations and the experience he holds against what he delivered the deficit side is a lot heavier. He also got a wicket with the ball, but that certainly isn’t anywhere close to DJ Bravo standards.

Nicholas Pooran – 4/10

The new chap off the blocks Nicholas Pooran made his T20I debut in the 1st T20I but was a forgettable one as he returned back having added just 5 runs to the team total. West Indies backed him for all the three games but the 20-years old valued that only with 25 runs. Pooran was always termed a promising prospect and one with the ability to deliver at the international level. Maybe it’s a bit too early to be judging the young man but the tour of UAE would have certainly given him the bitter taste of international cricket early on in his career.

Kieron Pollard – 5/10

One of the senior most members of this West Indies team Kieron Pollard has seen it all in his T20 career. He has been a part of the champion national side in the World T20, a globetrotter that he is has won a list of T20 leagues around the world and at a point in time when not many of the star players are backed by the WICB Pollard despite his inclusion failed to have an impact in the series. Being someone who can turn around a match at his will, with the bat as well as the ball Pollard’s performance – 43 runs in the three-match series definitely disappoints.

Also read – Pakistan vs West Indies, 3rd T20I: 5 Talking Points

Carlos Brathwaite – 3/10

The skipper, the man West Indies board views as someone who can lead the team towards a brighter future Carlos Brathwaite fell on his face in the series. He had a great start to his captaincy career having beaten one of the toughest competitors India in the series in the USA. But this tour to UAE against a good bowling attack like Pakistan probably gave him the reality check. Brathwaite of the 4 sixes in World T20 final fame, needs to improvise his game to a considerable extent to hold things up in his favor. Until then 8 runs and 1 wicket in 3 T20Is isn’t a performance worth the space.

Sunil Narine – 2/10

It’s pretty tough to recall the last international match in which Sunil Narine picked a wicket. He had no success in the T20I against India, was rather pummeled for 50 runs by the spin lovers and when he came to the UAE, a place where spinners do have a say even in the shortest format Narine was expected to lead the bowling charge for his team. But ever since he has been bowling with the remodeled action there has hardly been any mystery and any spin. Yes, he wasn’t the most expensive of the bowlers in the recently concluded series but that’s not the purpose he serves in this team. He didn’t bowl a single delivery in the series that could scalp him a wicket and here on it will be really tough for him to hold his place in the team.

Jerome Taylor – 3/10

Of the three matches in the series, Jerome Taylor bowled his quota of overs only in the 2nd T20I where he conceded runs with an economy of 7. Pakistan’s isn’t the best batting lineup and they certainly are troubled by a genuinely quick bowler who can move the ball and Taylor was supposed to do that. But the 32-years old went wicket-less in the series and made life easier for the opposition and tough for his own men.

Also read – Twitter Reactions: Pakistan whitewash the T20 champions

Samuel Badree – 3/10

35-years old Samuel Badree the No. 1 ranked T20I bowler scalped just 2 wickets in the course of the series on wickets where a rookie like Imad Wasim literally made the batsmen dance to his tunes and was the highest wicket-taker with 9 wickets to his name. With the drop in Narine’s sharpness Badree was contemplated to take up his role. He has most things right about him and knows exactly how to deal even with the best batsmen in the game. But as it turns out this series didn’t belong to him and another fact is that the West Indies batsmen never gave them the luxury of enough runs to bowl to their strategies and create pressure on the opposition.

Kesrick Williams – 6/10

One of the only few West Indians who impressed in the series was Kesrick Williams. An expressly quick bowler bowlers most of his deliveries in the 140 kph range, gets it to swing when he bowls fuller; has the ability to bowl in the channel that troubles but tends to stray a little too straight and that makes it a fodder for the batsmen. Williams got his first international success with the wicket of Sharjeel Khan in the 6^th over. He also has a good slower ball with him and mixes it up pretty well in the over. It proved good enough to deceive Khalid Latif as he completely missed it and was bowled. Williams gave Pakistan two jolts in the same over and returned with figures of 4-0-2-15 in the only match he played.

Chadwick Walton played just one game wasn’t required to bat and had very little contribution to make in the game.