Economical bowling steers Pakistan to win over West Indies

KARACHI: Pakistan comfortably defeated defending champions West Indies by seven wickets in their warm-up match ahead of T20 World Cup in Dubai on Monday.

West Indies, who chose to bat first, were restricted to 130 for seven which Pakistan crossed in only the 16th over with captain Babar Azam scoring 50 off 41 balls. He struck six fours and a six. Fakhar Zaman, who came to bat at no three scored hit 46 off just 24 balls, smashing four fours and two sixes. Mohammad Rizwan scored 13.

West Indies got some joy when Hayden Walsh dismissed Babar and Mohammad Hafeez off successive deliveries, but by then the intensity of the contest had all but disappeared. Shoaib Malik remained not out on 14.

Hayden Walsh got two for 41 while Ravi Rampaul took one for 19. Shimron Hetmyer was the top scorer for West Indies with 28 runs off 24 balls. He hit three fours. Lendl Simmons and Chris Gayle found themselves bogged down, the pair scoring 38 runs between them in 53 deliveries. Simmons managed 18 off 23 balls with three fours while veteran Chris Gayle made 20 off 30 balls, hitting two boundaries.

Pakistan’s control over the innings continued almost unabated until the final over of the West Indies innings, when five successive fours by captain Keiron Pollard at Haris Rauf’s expense pushed them to 130. Pollard scored 23 off 10 balls.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf got two wickets each, while Imad captured one. Imad conceded just six runs in his three overs. Shadab Khan and Mohammad Hafeez got no wicket, but they were economical, giving away just seven in two overs and 13 in three overs, respectively. Pakistan play their next warm up game against South Africa on Wednesday (tomorrow). They begin their World Cup campaign with a match against arch rivals India on October 24.

West Indies won toss

West Indies

Lendl Simmons c Rauf b Shaheen Afridi 18

Andre Fletcher b Hasan Ali 2

Chris Gayle b Haris Rauf 20

Roston Chase c Shaheen b Imad 9

Shimron Hetmyer c Babar b Shaheen 28

Nicholas Pooran c Babar b Hasan Ali 13

Kieron Pollard b Haris Rauf 23

Hayden Walsh not out 0

Extras (b 4, lb 6, w 7) 17

TOTAL (20 overs, 7 wickets) 130

Did not bat: Ravi Rampaul, Obed McCoy, Oshane Thomas, Andre Russell, Evin Lewis, Dwayne Bravo, Fabian Allen

Fall: 1-12 (Andre Fletcher, 2.5 ov), 2-30 (Lendl Simmons, 5.6 ov), 3-44 (Roston Chase, 10.2 ov), 4-63 (Chris Gayle, 13.1 ov), 5-93 (Nicholas Pooran, 17.2 ov), 6-108 (Shimron Hetmyer, 18.4 ov), 7-130 (Kieron Pollard, 19.6 ov)

Bowling: Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-0-41-2, Imad Wasim 3-0-6-1, Hasan Ali 4-0-21-2, Haris Rauf 4-0-32-2, Shadab Khan 2-0-7-0, Mohammad Hafeez 3-0-13-0

Pakistan

Mohammad Rizwan b Rampaul 13

Babar Azam st ÜPooran b Walsh 50

Fakhar Zaman not out 46

Mohammad Hafeez c Hetmyer b Walsh 0

Shoaib Malik not out 14

Extras (lb 2, nb 1, w 5) 8

TOTAL (15.3 overs, 3 wickets) 131

Did not bat: Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Haider Ali

Fall: 1-36 (Mohammad Rizwan, 5.3 ov), 2-94 (Babar Azam, 11.5 ov), 3-94 (Mohammad Hafeez, 11.6 ov)

Bowling: Ravi Rampaul 3-0-19-1, Obed McCoy 3-0-18-0, Roston Chase 3-0-25-0, Hayden Walsh 3.3-0-41-2, Oshane Thomas 3-0-26-0

Result: Pakistan won by 7 wickets

Umpires: Chris Brown and Richard Illingworth