The debutant took 3/7 off his four overs as the visitors chased down 112 thanks to Shoaib Malik's unbeaten 38*.

By Abdullah Ansari (26th March, 2017)

Toss: Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat. 

Teams:

West Indies: E Lewis, CAK Walton†, MN Samuels, LMP Simmons, KA Pollard, R Powell, CR Brathwaite*, JO Holder, SP Narine, S Badree, KOK Williams

Pakistan: Ahmed Shehzad, Kamran Akmal, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed*†, Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali

West Indies Innings

Sarfraz won the toss and inserted WI in to bat as Shadab made his debut. Pakistan began the bowling with spin from both ends from Imad and Hafeez and it wasn't long before there was a breakthrough, though it came via a superb bit of fielding from Shehzad who ran out Lewis. The run-rate was slow but that was the solitary wicket in the six-over powerplay. However, West Indies failed to make it count as Samuels fell LBW to Imad though replays showed the ball would have missed the stumps. Shadab came on to bowl next and straight away outfoxed Walton on his second delivery as he fell LBW. Two balls later, Simmons played one onto his stumps. On his eighth delivery, Shadab also dismissed Narine, caught in the deep. Hasan Ali then struck to dismiss Powell LBW with a clever cutter. Shadab almost had a fourth wicket but Kamran dropped the catch. Pollard and Brathwaite formed a short partnership before the latter was caught in the deep off a Wahab bouncer. However, the captain Brathwaite hit out at the end to drag West Indies to 111/8 as Tanvir dismissed Holder on the last ball.

Fall Of Wickets

1-13 (Lewis, 2.2 ov)
2-35 (Samuels, 6.3 ov)
3-37 (Walton, 7.2 ov)
4-38 (Simmons, 7.4 ov)
5-42 (Narine, 9.2 ov)
6-49 (Powell, 10.5 ov)
7-74 (Pollard, 16.1 ov)
8-111 (Holder, 19.6 ov)

Pakistan Innings

Shehzad and Kamran began at a decent pace, scoring at around run-a-ball until the former fell to a good delivery from Holder, caught behind for 13. Kamran hit back with a four and six off Badree but tried to hit another boundary next ball and was caught in the deep. Babar and Hafeez looked to form a partnership but the veteran all-rounder Hafeez fell cheaply as he tried to swipe one from Brathwaite and was caught despite a bit of a mix-up between the fielders. Babar was circumspect but Malik gave the innings some momentum. Just as Babar began to get some runs on a consistent basis, he was dismissed as he went after a wide delivery from Holder and was caught at third-man. Sarfraz came out to bat and helped Malik to shepherd Pakistan to the target with the latter finishing on 38* off 29 balls as Pakistan won with 6 wickets and 17 balls to spare.

Fall Of Wickets

1-25 (Ahmed Shehzad, 4.3 ov)
2-40 (Kamran Akmal, 5.3 ov)
3-49 (Mohammad Hafeez, 8.4 ov)
4-95 (Babar Azam, 14.6 ov)

Match Summary:

A superb performance by Pakistan's bowlers despite the pacers going for a few runs at the death, with Shadab exceptional in particular as the Caribbean batsmen had no answer for him. Pakistan's batting was shaky but Babar and Malik steadied the innings with Malik once again helping Pakistan to overcome a modest target as the visitors sealed a comfortable win.

Next match: 2nd T20I on Thursday, 30th March.

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