Pakistan 127 for 3 (Shehzad 53) beat West Indies 124 for 8 (Walton 40, Hasan 2-12, Shadab 2-16)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Hasan Ali bowled back-to-back maidens and picked up two wickets to wreck West Indies © AFP
In a nutshell
A no-contest between Pakistan’s bowling attack and the West Indies battling line-up. There were 66 dot balls in the innings – that’s 11 overs out of 20 – and eight of those dots were wickets. Hasan Ali bowled back-to-back maidens and finished with match-winning figures of 4-2-12-2.
Chadwick Walton, with 40, and Carlos Brathwaite, with 37 his new highest score surpassing his in the World T20 final, made up the lion’s share of West Indies’ 124 for 8. But it was nowhere near enough. Although the pitch at Queens Park Oval was being used for its third straight match, there weren’t the enough signs of the ball slowing up. And Pakistan’s top order capitalised. Ahmed Shehzad struck 53 off 45 balls to ensure a seven-wicket victory.
Where the game was won
The middle overs. Yes they exist in T20. For further proof Hasan did most of his damage through inswingers, which he can only manage with an old ball. Three our of his four overs came after the first 10 when West Indies fell from a respectable 59 for 2 to a silly 87 for 6. A slide like that might have been justified if there had been a spree of magic deliveries or an invasion of pitch demons. But all Hasan did was bowl full and straight. He understood that was enough by watching the West Indian batsmen set up on leg stump, and wait on the back foot, preferring to have room to free the arms and flat bat sixes.
More to follow
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo