Trinidad : West Indies romped to a series-levelling five-wicket victory over visitors Pakistan in the rain-hit second One-Day International match here at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago.
Pakistan had posted 171-7 in 37 overs on the back of valuable thirties from Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Talat in a stop-start innings with rain intervals in between.
West Indies’ top-scorer Chase (49 not out, 47b, 4x4s, 2x6s) walked in to bat with the home team 102-4 in 19.2 overs. He was aided by no.7 batter Justin Greaves, who contributed a 31-ball 26 including a solitary six to the match-winning stand.
The duo weathered 29 boundary-less balls in the beginning of the partnership before Chase’s two sixes in the 27th over consigned Saim to 16 runs bringing the equation down to 47 needed off 48 balls. From then on, they reaped a boundary in each of the overs except 29th keeping the run-flow intact.
At the beginning of the chase, Hasan Ali struck twice removing both the opening batters with just 12 runs on the board. Soon Abrar removed Keacy Carty for a sluggish 16 off 42 balls comprising of one four as West Indies slid to 48-3 in 12.4 overs.
Skipper Shai Hope then joined forces with Sherfane Rutherford and the latter went berserk in the 17th and 18th overs hitting three sixes and four fours against Shaheen Shah Afridi and Salman Ali Agha taking 37 runs off 12 balls.
An over later Mohammad Nawaz returned to end the 54-run fourth-wicket stand removing both Hope (32, 35b, 2x4s, 1×6) and Rutherford (45, 33b, 4x4s, 3x6s) in 20th and 22nd overs, respectively with West Indies requiring 73 off 78 balls thereon, which was then dealt with by Chase and Greaves successfully.
For Pakistan, apart from Hasan’s two strikes, Nawaz and Abrar returned economical figures of 2-17 and 1-23, respectively from their seven overs each.
Earlier, Pakistan were asked to bat first and they lost their opening batter Saim Ayub (23, 31b, 4x4s, 1×6) and Babar Azam (three-ball duck) to Jayden Seales in the ninth over 37 runs on the board.
Mohammad Rizwan (16, 38b, 2x4s) tried to steer the innings with a 27-run stand with Abdullah Shafique (26, 40b, 3x4s) and a 24-run stand Hussain Talat (31, 32b, 4x4s) but West Indies kept striking at regular intervals with all three departing with 114 runs in 26.4 overs.
In the subsequent over Salman Ali Agha fell for nine as Pakistan slid to 114-6 before Hasan Nawaz’s three-six laden 36 not out off 30 balls and Shaheen Shah Afridi’s seven-ball 11 gave Pakistan a fighting total of 171-7 as a rain interval forced the innings to be closed at 37-over mark.
For West Indies, Seales bagged three wickets, while Chase, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie and Jediah Blades dismissed one batter each.
Scores in brief
Match 2 of 3: West Indies beat Pakistan by five wickets (DLS method)
Pakistan 171-7, 37 overs (Hasan Nawaz 36 not out, Hussain Talat 31, Abdullah Shafique 26, Saim Ayub 23; Jayden Seales 3-23)
West Indies (target 181 runs from 35 overs) 184-5, 33.2 overs (Roston Chase 49 not out, Sherfane Rutherford 45, Shai Hope 32, Justin Greaves 26 not out; Mohammad Nawaz 2-17, Hasan Ali 2-35)
Player of the match – Roston Chase (West Indies)
The 3rd and last One Day International of three-match series between Pakistan and West Indies will be played at Tarouba on Tuesday.
The match will start at 6:30 PM.
The series is tied at 1-1.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
