Young West Indies stun Pakistan

Match Report - Only T20I: West Indies v Pakistan, Gros Islet, April 21, 2011

First ever T20 match between these two sides produced a good game as new-look West Indies side toppled Pakistan to start the tour on a high. Seven players from both sides made their debuts. Pakistan went with a spin-heavy side, leaving the batting a thin look. This meant they had to rely on their top order to perform which it did not.

Darren Sammy won the toss and opted to bat first. Junaid Khan started his international career with an impressive over. Abdur Rehman, who started from the other end, had Andre Fletcher plumb in front on his first ball. Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo, the two young prodigies for the Windies, played exceptionally well and shared a 99-run partnership for the second wicket. Hundred was brought in the 13th over.

Simmons, in particular, was more aggressive, as he carted Junaid for a four and a six before Abdur Rehman was put over the sight screen. Bravo then joined the act, after getting two boundaries off Wahab; he pulled Afridi for a big six. Abdur Rehman was the man who broke the partnership by removing Bravo, bringing Pakistan back into the match. Bravo made 42 off 33 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Simmons was then run out by Wahab Riaz for an enterprising 65 (44b, 7x4, 2x6).

Loss of the set duo brought Pakistan back into the match. Spinners strangled the scoring rate, while Wahab’s angle troubled the batsmen. Mohammad Salman tasted his first success at international level when he stumped Samuels, returning from a two-year ban, for just 4 runs. Next he caught Sammy off Wahab to send Windies in disarray. They managed to reach 150 for 7 after 20 overs. Abdur, Ajmal and Wahab shared 2 wickets each, although Ajmal proved expensive.

In reply, Pakistan could not settle into the chase as they lost wickets regularly. Hafeez pulled Sammy straight to deep backward square-leg, while Ahmed Shehzad went trying one too many after hitting two lovely fours. Asad Shafiq played well and looked settled for a big knock as he hit a pugnacious six off Sammy on the back foot and then two cracking boundaries of Russell in the next over. At 49 in the 7th over, Devendra Bishoo changed the complexion of the match by getting Asad 25 (17b, 3x4, 1x6) and Misbah in two balls. Asad was deceived into playing a loopy shot, while Misbah was hit-wicket as he went too far after playing the shot to keep his foot from hitting the stumps.

From 49 for 4, it all depended on Afridi, but his woes with the bat continued. Umar Akmal, meanwhile, was fighting a lone battle, and despite losing partners regularly, he kept the hope alive for a while. When Rampaul removed Akmal for a run-a-ball 41, Pakistan still needed 41 in the last 4 overs with just 3 wickets remaining. Bishoo came back to remove Abdur Rehman and then Wahab was undone by Rampaul leaving the last pair of Ajmal and Junaid an uphill task of getting 27 off 10 balls. Ajmal made the proceedings interesting by getting 15 runs from the 19th over bowled by Rampaul, but Pakistan fell short by 7 runs in the end. Bishoo was sensational with 4 for 17, while Rampaul got 3 for 31.

West Indies were hungrier of the two sides on display and showed that their faith on young guns could produce results for them. Pakistan, on the other hand, have to think about their mental approach as well as team selection. The ODI series is next, and it is an important one as both sides are in a process of rebuilding. Pakistan, though, start as favorites.

Match Result: West Indies 150/7 (Simmons 65, Abdur Rehman 2/22) beat Pakistan 143/9 (Umar Akmal 41, Bishoo 4/17) by 7 runs

Man of the Match: D Bishoo (West Indies)
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