ABU DHABI: Inspired by another brilliant spell of spin bowling from Imad Wasim, Pakistan crushed world champions West Indies in the final game by eight wickets here on Tuesday night to complete a historic clean sweep of the Twenty20 International series.
After restricting the West Indies to 103-5 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Pakistan cruised home with 29 balls to spare when Shoaib Malik hoisted West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite for a six over wide long-on to remain undefeated on 43.
Malik, who struck four boundaries during his 34-ball knock, and Babar Azam (27 off 24 balls) added 68 for the unbroken third wicket partnership after paceman Kesrick Williams, on his international debut, sent back openers Sharjeel Khan (11) and Khalid Latif (21) in the same over.
Pakistan — who had earlier won the first two fixtures in Dubai by nine wickets and 16 runs, respectively — became only the sixth team to complete a whitewash.
Put in to bat after Sarfraz had won the toss, West Indies were pegged by the impressive Imad, who was declared man-of-the-match as well as man-of-the-series for picking up nine wickets in three matches.
The 27-year-old Swansea-born all-rounder cleaned up Johnson Charles (5) and Chadwick Walton (0) in successive balls of the third over of the match before coming back to get rid of Dwayne Bravo (11) in a similar fashion. He finished with the figures of 3-21 from his four overs.
Marlon Samuels held the innings together but consumed 59 balls to score an unbeaten 42 that included three of the six boundaries hit in the innings.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES
J. Charles b Wasim 5
A. Fletcher run out 9
C. Walton b Wasim 0
M. Samuels not out 42
D. Bravo b Wasim 11
N. Pooran c Malik b Nawaz 16
K. Pollard not out 16
EXTRAS (lb 3, w 1) 4
TOTAL: (for five wkts; 20 overs) 103
DID NOT BAT: C. Brathwaite, S. Narine, J. Taylor, K. Williams
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-12 (Charles), 2-12 (Walton), 3-17 (Fletcher), 4-31 (Bravo), 5-66 (Pooran)
BOWLING: Wasim 4-1-21-3, Tanvir 4-0-22-0, Nawaz 3-0-16-1 (1w), Amir 4-0-20-0, Malik 2-0-11-0, Raees 3-0-10-0
PAKISTAN
Sharjeel Khan c Fletcher b Williams 11
Khalid Latif b Williams 21
Babar Azam not out 27
Shoaib Malik not out 43
EXTRAS (lb 4, w 2) 6
TOTAL: (two wkts; 15.1 overs) 108
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36 (Sharjeel), 2-40 (Latif)
BOWLING: Taylor 2-0-19-0 (1w), Williams 4-0-15-2 (1w), Bravo 4-0-31-0, Narine 4-0-21-0, Brathwaite 1.1-0-18-0.
Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2016
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.