Pakistan survived Nicholas Pooran’s late blitz to beat West Indies by seven runs within the second Twenty20 and go 1-0 up within the four-match sequence.
Left-handed Pooran smashed six sixes and 4 boundaries on Saturday however his unbeaten 62 off 33 balls may carry the West Indies to solely 150-4.
Pakistan was put into bat first and scored 157-8 with captain Babar Azam (51) and Mohammad Rizwan (46) persevering with to attain closely up entrance.
Jason Holder grabbed 4-26 and Dwayne Bravo bought the wickets of Mohammad Hafeez and Fakhar Zaman off successive deliveries as Pakistan misplaced six wickets for 23 runs of their final 4 overs.
Rizwan and Azam mixed in a 67-run second wicket stand earlier than Rizwan was run out within the fifteenth over.
Holder returned within the seventeenth over and Azam was out caught behind after a tv referral. The Pakistan captain walked off the sphere in disbelief.
The West Indies power-hitters couldn’t mount a cost towards the skilled offspin of Hafeez, who conceded simply six runs off his 4 overs and clean-bowled Andre Fletcher along with his second supply.
Legspinner Shadab Khan (0-22) additionally gave away only one boundary that strangled the West Indies run chase on a gradual pitch.
“We were 10-15 runs short, but our bowlers bowled very well, and I think we should give them credit,” Azam mentioned.
“Hafeez showed his experience in the powerplay and as captain it pleased me a lot.”
When Ewin Lewis needed to retire harm on account of cramps after scoring 35 off 33 balls, West Indies nonetheless wanted 82 runs off the final six overs.
While Kieron Pollard couldn’t discover boundaries towards the tempo, Pooran timed the ball properly and hit his sixes towards quick bowlers Mohammad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali.
“I thought the way the bowlers bounced back shows we’re consistent with the ball,” Pollard mentioned.
“At the end of the day we could have taken a few more singles ? there are things we continue to look at, and it’s all about improvement as the games go on. We were on the losing end today, but all hope isn’t lost.”
The first T20 was washed out in Barbados on Wednesday. Guyana hosts the remaining two T20s on Sunday and subsequent Tuesday, adopted by a two-Test sequence in Jamaica.
