Pakistan Vs West Indies at the Oval: Pakistani batting lived up to its poor reputation but despite the defeat by 2 wickets, the Pakistani bowlers put in a heroic performance to defend a low total

By Waqas Zafar (7th June, 2013)

Toss : West Indies won the toss and elected to field.

Teams:

Pakistan: Imran Farhat , Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq , Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik , Kamran Akmal , Saeed Ajmal , Wahab Riaz , Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles , Darren Bravo , Marlon Samuels , Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo , Keiron Pollard, Dinesh Ramdin , Sunil Narine , Ravi Rampaul , Kemar Roach


Pakistan Innings

In the ICC Champions Trophy, Pakistan and West Indies have met thrice i.e. 1998, 2004 and 2009 where West Indies won twice (1998 & 2004) and Pakistan managed to win in 2009.

West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo opted to bowl first, expecting his seamers to get some movement in the early overs and grab early wickets.

Kemar Roach struck in his first over getting rid of Imran Farhat. It was a length ball pitching outside off and Farhat pushed hard at it, playing away from the body. It went straight to first slip, but Bravo at second slip dived to his right to take a good catch.

Mohammad Hafeez was dismissed in the fourth over when Roach fired one onto the stumps and the batsman completely misjudged the line of the delivery. Pakistan was struggling at 14/2 in 4.3 overs. Asad Shafiq who has struggled to get runs in the warm-up game against the Proteas, fell prey to a short ball from Kemar Roach. Roach had struck thrice in his first spell doing a serious bit of damage.

Misbah-ul-Haq was very lucky to survive two consecutive shouts i.e. one for lbw and the other one for caught behind. Pakistan only managed to score 23 runs for the loss of three wickets in the first ten overs, courtesy good tight bowling from the West Indian seamers, especially Kemar Roach. Roach bowled six overs in his first spell taking three big wickets and conceding only seven runs.

Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels replaced the opening bowlers and later on the number one bowler in the ICC ODI rankings, Sunil Narine was introduced. Misbah was dropped in Narine’s first over by Keiron Pollard at the short-leg position.

Nasir Jamshed was dropped on 30 when he tried to drive a good length ball, angling away from his body. Ramdin tried to keep hold on to it, but failed to do so. Misbah-ul-Haq and Jamshed made a good comeback by nudging the ball into the gaps and hitting couple of boundaries. Though Misbah looked vulnerable, he showed some resistance along with Nasir Jamshed.

The stand-out bowler, Kemar Roach, was brought back for his second spell in the 22nd over in order to break the 51 run stand between the two batsmen. But this time, Jamshed showed his intent by played his shots.

Jamshed after completing his half century simply gifted his wicket to Narine. He tried to smash the ball over cover but didn’t time it well and Rampaul took a good catch at long-off. Pakistan needed him at least for the batting power-play but it was a poor shot selection from the batsman. Finally, a 90 run partnership between Misbah and Jamshed came to an end.

In the same over, Shoaib Malik gifted his wicket to Narine, leaving Pakistan at 106/5. Narine struck in his next over as well, getting rid of Kamran Akmal. Poor shot selection from the batsmen created all sorts of trouble as Pakistan was lingering on 110/6 in only 32 overs.

Wickets kept on falling in regular intervals as Riaz was run-out off of Bravo's bowling when he poked his hand at the ball and it went on to crash onto the stumps. Ajmal was the next to depart as he was run out courtesy a mix-up, leaving the scorecard at 136/8.

Chris Gayle took an excellent catch at first slip to dismiss Junaid Khan. Horrible shots from the batsmen and terrible running from the batsmen led to a collapse from 105/4 to 138/9. Misbah was the second player to score a half century and was progressing carefully to his maiden ODI hundred as wickets kept on falling on the other end at regular intervals.

Misbah continued to score runs including fours and huge sixes as he was the last hope for his team. Four runs short to his hundred, his partner Mohammad Irfan was dismissed off of Ravi Rampaul as the trick of bowling short balls finally worked.

Pakistan ended their innings at 170 all out. A lot was expected from this batting line up, but poor shots from the batsmen failed to set up a healthy target. Misbah remained unbeaten at 96 and it was rather an outstanding knock from the captain.


Fall of Wickets

1-2 (Farhat, 0.6 overs),
2-14 (Hafeez, 4.3 overs),
3-15 (Shafiq, 6.1 overs),
4-105 (Jamshed, 29.2 overs),
5-106 (Malik, 29.5 overs),
6-110 (Kamran, 31.5 overs),
7-128 (Wahab, 36.1 overs),
8-136 (Ajmal, 37.5 overs),
9-138 (Junaid, 40.3 overs),
10-170 (Irfan, 47.6 overs)


West Indies Innings

West Indian openers strode into the middle, knowing fully well that this would not be a walk in the park but began in a positive fashion.

However, Johnson Charles, who was looking a bit dangerous after slogging Junaid Khan and Irfan, was dismissed while playing a pull shot. It was a back of a length delivery by Irfan which was aimed at him and he mistimed it straight to the fine leg fielder.

Irfan also got rid of Darren Bravo by bowling an absolute cracker. That ball was pitched a fraction short and was aimed at his chest. Bravo tried to get rid of that but could not do so. Gayle was beaten by both Junaid and Irfan but after that he looked comfortable at the crease.

Chris Gayle gained his composure and looked in good touch and played some unbelievable strokes. He counter-attacked Irfan by smashing one six and two boundaries in one over. Samuels on the other end, also played some lovely shots including a lovely punch off Junaid Khan.

Misbah brought Saeed Ajmal into the attack in the 11th over hoping that he might get a breakthrough but could not make an impact straight away. Wahab Riaz was introduced in the next over. By the drinks break, West Indies had reached 72/2. This partnership had now moved onto 57 runs.

Saeed Ajmal struck right after the drinks break and this time he cleaned up the very dangerous Chris Gayle. Gayle tried to smash a length ball but he did not pick the wrong one and a big gap between bat and pad allowed the ball to hit the timber.

Wahab Riaz, who was consistently bowling short of length deliveries at good pace, struck straight away getting rid of Sarwan with an absolute ripper. Sarwan tried to stay away but perfectly directed short ball did the job for Pakistan. West Indies were now under pressure courtesy of hostile bowling from Wahab Riaz.

Pollard came in next and was unable to read Ajmal’s doosras. He edged twice to Hafeez at first slip but the ball did not carry. It took 18 deliveries for a batsman like Pollard to get off the mark. Hafeez was introduced and he struck in his second over by sending Samuels back to the pavilion. It was pitched outside off and drifted away right after pitching and Samuels was way out of his crease with Kamran Akmal making no mistake in stumping. West Indies were struggling at 94/5 in 25.1 overs.

From this point onwards, Keiron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo looked very cautious in their stroke making. Irfan was introduced in the 26th over for his second spell. His spell was quite hostile with some nasty lifting deliveries. Irfan tried everything by coming over the wicket and round the wicket but failed to make impact in his second spell.

Both the batsmen defended and pushed the ball in the gaps to grab singles and doubles. They were very calm and handled the situation very well. Junaid Khan was also brought into the attack for his second spell. Game was now slipping from Pakistan’s hands. Low target set by the batsmen created pressure on the Pakistan seamers.

Wahab Riaz was rewarded again this time dismissing Pollard. That one was short of the length and rose to his chest taking the outside edge to the keeper.

Ajmal struck in his next over by getting rid of the captain Dwayne Bravo. West Indies were now 143/7. Ajmal leaked eight runs off his last over. Narine and Ramdin were guiding West Indies to victory when Irfan struck and got Narine caught behind. Pakistan bowlers struck at regular intervals in order to keep themselves alive in this game.

In the end Kemar Roach, hit the winning boundary by smashing Junaid Khan over point and West Indies won the match by 2 wickets ending a terrific fightback from the Pakistani bowlers.


Fall of Wickets

1-11(Charles, 2.4 overs),
2-15 (Darren Bravo, 4.2 overs),
3-78 (Gayle, 16.6 overs),
4-81 (Sarwan, 17.6 overs),
5-94 (Samuels, 25.1 overs),
6-137 (Pollard, 35.3 overs),
7-143 (Bravo, 36.4 overs),
8-165 (Narine, 39.2 overs)


Match Summary:

As expected, Pakistani batting lineup proved as brittle as ever - giving the West Indies a total that they could chase. The Pakistani bowlers bowled their hearts out but at the end, 170 was too low a total to defend on a largely docile Oval pitch. Pakistani batsmen and their coaches have work cut out but 2 must win games beckon and its not going to get any easier.