KARACHI: Bilateral international cricket made an auspicious return to the city of lights at the National Stadium here on Sunday after nine years when Pakistan nonchalantly brushed aside a jet-lagged West Indies by a record margin in the first of three Twenty20 Internationals.

Although it was a weekly holiday, the turnout was rather disappointing compared to last week’s Pakistan Super League final, which drew a capacity crowd of 34,000. The attendance on Sunday was around 20,000 despite leniency shown by the security agencies and a lot more courtesy.

That said, it was a vocal, festive crowd that clearly celebrated the return of normality in the metropolis after nearly a decade, putting behind the long and turbulent period of violence and uncertainty.

Thankfully, the lop-sided contest remained completely incident-free — a good augury for the country’s cricket. This series could go a long way to deciding Karachi’s prospects as host of major cricket series in the days to come.

The victory by 143 runs was by far Pakistan’s biggest — outstripping the mark of 103 when the green shirts whipped New Zealand at Christchurch in 2010 — as the West Indies limped to their lowest ever score by being hustled out in 64 minutes for a measly 60 in 13.4 overs.

It was West Indies’ largest loss by runs, eclipsing the previous record of 119 versus New Zealand earlier this year at Mount Maunganui. Their lowest score prior to this game was 79-7 against Zimbabwe at Port of Spain in 2010.

Their misery was further compounded by the injury to spinner Verasammy Permaul, who was still at the hospital after being stretchered off with a twisted left ankle while bowling. In effect, West Indies are now left with 12 fit players available for selection for the remaining two fixtures on Monday and Tuesday.

From the outset, West Indies looked horribly out of their depth after arriving in two batches only the night before. Jason Mohammed, thrust into leading a depleted squad with their first-choice stars absent, played some part in extending the series opener until 11:01pm after deciding to field first at the toss.

And although no Pakistani player could reach a half century, Pakistan still managed to equal their highest total in 124 Twenty20 Internationals. Four of the five frontline batsmen surpassed 35 and two of them — Fakhar Zaman and Hussain Talat — got run out because of indecisive calling.

Fakhar looked in great touch upfront as the left-hander casually hit six boundaries and a six in making 39 from 24 deliveries after dominating the opening partnership of 46 in 31 balls with Babar Azam (17). Ahmed Shehzad was axed to accommodate Hussain and Asif Ali.

Hussain, a 21-year-old left-hander from Lahore, made a promising start to his international career with a sublime 37-ball knock of 41 (two fours and one six). He added 75 in 49 balls with skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, who stroked four boundaries and one six in a breezy 38 off 22 balls.

Shoaib Malik provided the impetus to take the home team past 200 as the former captain effortlessly bludgeoned 37 from just 14 balls. He struck four fours and one six as the final two overs of the innings — lasting 106 minutes — yielded 44 runs.

Hussain capped his first night in Pakistan colours by taking the last wicket to fall in the 14th over of the West Indies innings after already showing his fielding skills with three good catches. He was the undisputed choice as the man-of-the-match, the third Pakistan debutant to do so after Shahid Afridi and Shadab Khan in this format.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Fakhar Zaman run out 39

Babar Azam lbw b Emrit 17

Hussain Talat run out 41

Sarfraz Ahmed c Fletcher b Powell 38

Shoaib Malik not out 37

Asif Ali b Paul 1

Fahim Ashraf not out 16

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-7, NB-1) 14

TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs) 203

BOWLING: Badree 4-0-37-0 (1w); Paul 4-0-26-1 (1nb); Emrit 4-0-43-1; Williams 4-0-42-0;

Permaul 0.3-0-8-0 (2w); Samuels 0.3-0-7-0; Powell 3-0-34-1.

WEST INDIES:

C.A.K. Walton c Asif b Nawaz 6

A.D.R. Fletcher c Hussain b Amir 0

M.N. Samuels c Fahim b Nawaz 18

J.N. Mohammed c Hussain b Amir 0

D. Ramdin c Nawaz b Hasan 0

R. Powell c and b Shadab 5

K.M.A. Paul not out 10

R. Emrit c Hussain b Malik 11

K.O.K. Williams c Babar b Malik 0

S. Badree c Malik b Hussain 7

V. Permaul absent injured -

EXTRAS (W-3) 3

TOTAL (all out, 13.4 overs) 60

BOWLING: Mohammad Nawaz 4-0-19-2 (1w); Mohammad Amir 2-0-3-2 (2w); Hasan Ali 1-1-0-1; Fahim Ashraf 1-0-9-0; Shadab Khan 3-0-13-1 Shoaib Malik 2-0-13-2; Hussain Talat 0.4-0-3-1.

RESULT: Pakistan won by 143 runs to lead three-match series 1-0.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza (Pakistan) and Shozab Raza (Pakistan).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Hussain Talat.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2018