Pakistan stroll to T20 series win

West Indies will not have much time off, as they face the same opponents in a three-match One Day International series starting on Friday in Guyana.

West Indies, who played a solid match on Saturday to win the third match in the T20 series by seven wickets, could only look on as Pakistan outplayed them in all facets of the game.

Chasing a modest 125 for victory, Pakistan assessed the match situation and eased their way to 127 for three in 19 overs. Batting first, West Indies posted 124/8.

Ahmed Shehzad and Kamran Akmal got Pakistan’s run chase off positively with a 40-run opening partnership.

Off-spinner Sunil Narine was introduced earlier than usual, as West Indies tried to break the partnership. However, it was parttime off-spinner Marlon Samuels who got the breakthrough in the seventh over as Pakistan were reduced to 40/1. Babar Azam and Shehzad then took the match away from West Indies with a 70- run partnership.

The pair batted smartly, rotating the strike while entertaining with the occasional boundary.

Leg-spinner Samuel Badree, known for his economic bowling, was struck for a six by both Azam and Shehzad. Azam cleared the midwicket fence, while Shehzad confidently chipped down the wicket to dispatch Badree over long-on. Badree ended with figures of 4-0-38-0.

Shortly after Pakistan got to 100, Shehzad brought up his 50 with a four through the covers.

Shehzad was bowled behind his back by pacer Kesrick Williams for 53 (44 balls, six fours, one six), before Azam was well caught for 38 (37 balls, one four, one six) by substitute fielder Rovman Powell at midwicket to give Williams another scalp. Shoaib Malik (nine) and captain Sarfraz Ahmad (three) ended the match with an over to spare.

Williams grabbed 2/16 in three overs, while Samuels took 1/11 in two overs.

Pacer Hasan Ali (4-2-12-2) won the Man of the Match award, while leg-spinner Shadab Khan took the Player of the Series award for his haul of 10 wickets.

It was a far cry from the batting performance that West Indies showed on Saturday as only three batsmen got into double figures. Opener Chadwick Walton got West Indies off to a solid start, top-scoring with 40, while Samuels scored 22 and captain Carlos Brathwaite showed the timing that won the 2016 T20 World Cup for West Indies with an unbeaten 37.

Walton, who watched his opening partner Evin Lewis entertain the Oval spectators on Saturday with a knock of 91, got West Indies to 52/1 after eight overs.

However, he could not post a half century as he was caught at longon by Malik for 40 off 31 deliveries off Khan.

Khan, who took seven wickets in the first two matches of the series, again caused problems for the West Indies batsmen taking 2/16 in four overs.

Samuels played with his usual elegance, guiding a delivery for four through covers as West Indies got to 59/2 after 10 overs.

The Windies progress slowed down with the loss of Walton as Jason Mohammed joined Samuels.

Mohammed, who struggled to find the fluency he showed on Saturday, had his middle stump knocked out of the ground by Ali for one attempting a drive as Windies slumped to 59/3 after 11 overs.

The fall of Mohammed did not affect Samuels, as he cracked a six over backward point off Wahad Riaz, and the next ball struck another six over long off to end a productive 12th over for West Indies.

The score quickly became 73/5 after 13 overs, as Lendl Simmons and Samuels fell in consecutive deliveries.

Simmons ran himself out for one as he struck a straight drive and the bowler Ali got a hand on the ball. Ali then ran a short distance to retrieve the ball before running Simmons out. Samuels was then bowled for 22 with a delivery that kept low.

Khan came back into the attack and troubled Kieron Pollard, as the right-hander played and missed. But Pollard and Brathwaite kept the scoreboard ticking with some good running in between the wickets.

Pollard was next to go as he was bowled for three by Rumman Raees, before Jason Holder was caught for a duck at long-off. Pakistan were now in control of the match with West Indies on 83/7 after 15.2 overs.

Brathwaite and Sunil Narine then shared in a fightback, with the former hitting two sixes over long-on, one off Raees and the other off Wahab Riaz.

Brathwaite also rode his luck, swinging hard at a delivery and getting a four down to third man with an edge.

Narine was bowled for nine trying to heave a delivery over midwicket as West Indies stumbled to 124/8 after 20 overs.