Pakistan 135 for 7 (Akmal 46*, Narine 3-26) beat West Indies 124 for 9 (Tanvir 2-20) by 11 runs
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Umar Akmal's 46 off 36 gave Pakistan the final surge to take them to
135, which their bowlers made look like 185 on a slow, dry and used
pitch to give them the Twenty20 series to go with the ODI spoils.
Pakistan threatened to leave Ahmed Shehzad's platform of 44 off 46 to
waste, but Akmal did just enough - with 38 in the last four overs - for
the bowlers, who were soon all over the West Indies batting.
Sohail Tanvir's extra bounce accounted for Johnson Charles and Marlon
Samuels, Mohammad Hafeez got Chris Gayle for the second time in two
afternoons, and before you knew West Indies were 17 for 4. A strategic
promotion for Sunil Narine injected some life into the chase as he
scored 28 off 16, Kieron Pollard gave them late hope with 23 off 10, but
they were fighting too much quality.
After Charles edged Tanvir to Akmal, Gayle's horror home season
continued as he fell to a leading edge; since his century in the first
ODI of the tri-series earlier in the season, Gayle has not crossed 30 in
10 international innings, and has averaged 10.2. Samuels got a bit of a
brute that kicked at him just outside off, and took the gove. Lendl
Simmons soon played for a Shahid Afridi legbreak, but it didn't turn and
took the middle stumps.
As Dwayne Bravo fought hard, Narine swung merrily, and enjoyed some good
timing and some good luck. The two added 47 in 5.3 overs, and brought
the target down 72 off 39. Pollard took time to get going, and by the
time he decided everything needed to go as West Indies needed 62 in four
overs. Over the next four balls, he brought out some savage hits
against the 34-year-old rookie Zulfiqar Babar, losing two balls and
scoring 20 runs. Babar, though, went over the wicket, and managed to get
the outer edge, which still carried to deep cover. Immediately, he got
rid of Bravo, who also wanted to go over the off side but found
long-off.
In those two balls, the brief life in the chase had frizzled out. Not even a shambolic no-ball call - for the front foot
cutting the side crease - could make any difference. In contrast,
Pakistan might not have had any such spells of brilliant hitting, but
they stayed around the six-an-over mark before going for the big runs in
the end.
West Indies seemed to have learned their lesson from having failed to
defend 152 in the first game. They didn't give Pakistan any pace to hit.
When the visitors ended the Powerplay at 39 for 1, it was the last time
their run rate would reach 6.5 before Akmal's hitting in the 19th over.
They had to fight a controlled West Indies effort throughout.
Shehzad, who scored 44 off 46, found little support from the other end.
Hafeez, opening in the absence of the dropped Nasir Jamshed, was caught
on the late cut again. Umar Amin was done in trying to drive on the up.
Haris Sohail swung before he got used to the pace of the pitch. Shahid
Afridi hit Narine into the strong wind and in the air. Shehzad perished
trying to pull Pollard, who had dug the ball in and provided no pace to
go with.
At 96 for 5 in the 16th over, it seemed Pakistan would struggle to get
to a defendable total, but Akmal kept them in the game. Most of his good
work came in the 19th over when Bravo went round the stumps and angled
the ball across Akmal with little cover on the cover boundary. He was
taken for a four and a six in the 16-run over, but Narine ended his good
spell with just six runs in the 20th. As it turned out, Akmal had done
enough damage by then.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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