KARACHI, Pakistan, CMC – An out-of-sorts West Indies fared little better in the second Twenty20 International, producing another insipid display in an 82-run defeat, to concede the three-match series to Pakistan here yesterday.
Only 24 hours after being dismissed for their lowest-ever T20 total and suffering the second heaviest defeat in the format, West Indies once again failed to show any enterprise, crashing to 123 all out with four balls left, in pursuit of an intimidating 206 at the National Stadium.
Opener Chadwick Walton belted a top score of 40 from 29 balls but veteran Denesh Ramdin with 21 was the only other batsman to make it past 20.
The Windies found their scoring restricted early on and crawled to 92 for three before the presssure told and they lost their last seven wickets for 31 runs.
Left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir led the hosts attack with three for 22 while seamer Hussain Talat (2-12) and leg-spinner Shadab Khan (2-23) supported with two wickets apiece.
Babar Azam had earlier narrowly missed out on a maiden T20 International hundred when he finished unbeaten on 97 as Pakistan piled up 205 for three off their 20 overs – their highest-ever T20 total while passing the 200-run mark for a second straight game.
Talat, who debuted on Sunday, stroked 63 to also take advantage of a ragged Windies bowling effort which mirrored Sunday’s performance.
Opting to bat first, Pakistan suffered an early loss when Fakhar Zaman perished for six in the second over with the score on 11, gloving a pull at seamer Rayad Emrit through to wicketkeeper Ramdin.
However, further success proved elusive as Babar and Talat combined in an excellent 119-run, second-wicket stand which put Pakistan in a commanding position.
The right-handed Babar, dropped by Samuel Badree at square leg on 78 in the 17th over from seamer Kesrick Williams, struck 13 fours and a six in a 58-ball knock.
Talat, meanwhile, faced 41 balls and carved out eight fours a six before being brilliantly hauled in at point by captain Jason Mohammed, to give debutant medium pacer Odean Smith his first international wicket.
Babar then anchored two key partnerships which left the Windies in disarray, putting on 47 off 18 balls for the third wicket with Asif Ali (14) before adding a further 38 off 18 deliveries in an unbroken fourth wicket stand with Shoaib Malik (17 not out).
Faced with a daunting target, the Windies lost Andre Fletcher cheaply in the third over for one, chopping on to left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz with 11 runs on the board.
Walton, however, inspired the best stand of the innings when he posted 39 for the second wicket with Marlon Samuels who made 12 as the West Indies tried to stabilise.
The right-handed Walton counted five fours and a couple of sixes and appeared set for a half-century when he missed a heave at a Shadab googly and had his stumps rattled in the ninth over.
By then, the required run rate had skyrocketed to 13 an over and Samuels, who laboured for 21 balls with a single four, tried to break the shackles but only succeeded in picking out long off at the start of the 11th over from Shadab.
Ramdin stepped up the tempo, albeit briefly, hoisting Shadab over the ropes at mid-wicket and then drilling the next ball to the cover boundary in the 13th over which leaked 13 runs, as he added 35 for the fourth wicket in quick time with Mohammed (15).
But Talat broke the stand in the 15th over, getting Ramdin to hole out to square leg and Mohammed followed in the next over, yorked by Amir as he backed away to leg.
Tottering on 94 for five, the innings spectacularly imploded in the 18th. Amir knocked over Rovman Powell (3) and Keemo Paul (17) to off-side catches inside the first four balls of the over, and Emrit and Williams then ended up in the same crease at the striker’s end in a horrible mix-up over a second run, sending Emrit on his way.