LAUDERHILL (Florida): Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub combined for a 138 opening partnership and Pakistan defeated the West Indies by 13 runs on Sunday to clinch the T20 International Series 2-1.

Pakistan won the series opener by 14 runs but dropped the second match by two wickets to set up a Sunday night decider at Lauderhill, where they posted 189-4 and then bowled tightly enough to restrict West Indies to 176-6.

“Whatever series we’re playing, it’s important to us,” captain Salman Ali Agha said. “We just want to keep improving and follow our process and if we do that, we have enough talent to win games.

“It was a team performance. There’s always going to be areas to improve, and as a team, we just want to keep improving and moving forward. Making 190 was a massive boost for us. The way the spinners bowled was outstanding.”

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Pakistan were rewarded with a powerhouse performance by Sahibzada and Saim.

Sahibzada hammered the hosts for 74 runs on 53 balls, smashing five sixes and three fours, while Saim finished on 66 from 49 balls with two sixes and four fours.

“I’m really enjoying batting alongside Saim,” player-of-the-match Sahibzada said. “We complement each other well and he guides me too. We played with a positive intent and not spare any loose deliveries. The entire focus now is on the tri-nation series [against Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates] and then the Asia Cup.”

Pakistan’s opening partnership ended in the 17th over when Sahibzada hit a low full-toss from Shamar Joseph (1-57) directly to West Indies captain Shai Hope at long-off.

Hasan Nawaz entered but was dismissed after only 15 runs, caught by Romario Shepherd at long off from a delivery by Roston Chase on the penultimate ball of the 18th over.

Mohammad Haris was run out for only two runs by Gudakesh Motie to start the 19th over and Saim finally exited on the last ball of the penultimate over, Jason Holder’s delivery grabbed by Sherfane Rutherford at sweeper cover.

West Indies raced to 33-0 after two overs in reply, taking 16 off the first over from Hasan Ali and 17 in the second from Mohammad Nawaz.

Haris Rauf slowed the run-rate in the third over, which only went for five runs, and then snared the first West Indies wicket when he had Jewel Andrew (24) caught by Hasan Ali at long on in the fifth over with the total at 44.

Alick Athanaze scored 60 from 40 deliveries, sharing further partnerships of 30 with Hope (7) and 36 with Rutherford until he mis-timed a fuller, faster delivery from Saim and was caught at short thirdman. At that point, West Indies slipped to 110-3 in the 13th over.

Chase fell on the last ball of the 17th over and his replacement, last-ball hero Holder from the win a night earlier, was bowled out by Sufiyan Muqeem two balls later for a duck, leaving the hosts 41 runs shy with 16 balls remaining.

Rutherford smashed a six to reach a half-century with seven balls remaining before exiting on 51 as West Indies couldn’t pull off another last-over comeback.

“We speak a lot about execution with the ball … just trying to have a complete game,” said Hope. “I can see some progression in small areas but we need consistency. We need that intent like Alick showed, his class really stood out. Consistency is the key...games are coming thick and fast and there isn’t much time to discuss or reflect.”

Both teams travel to the Caribbean for a series of three One-day Internationals.

FAKHAR INJURED

Pakistan will have to make do without Fakhar Zaman for the ODIs after the top-order opener had hurt his hamstring during the second T20.

Pakistan confirmed the injury to Fakhar and said the left-hander will return home and take no part in the ODI series.

“Fakhar will return to Pakistan on the evening of August 4 and will continue his rehabilitation under the supervision of the PCB medical team at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore,” the Pakistan Cricket Board said.

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN:

Sahibzada Farhan c Hope b Joseph 74

Saim Ayub c Rutherford b Holder 66

Hassan Nawaz c Shepherd b Chase 15

Mohammad Haris run out 2

Khushdil Shah not out 11

Faheem Ashraf not out 10

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-10) 11

TOTAL (for four wickets, 20 overs) 189

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-138 (Sahibzada), 2-158 (Hasan), 3-160 (Haris), 4-170 (Saim)

DID NOT BAT: Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Sufyan Muqeem

BOWLING: Hosein 4-0-32-0 (2w), Holder 4-0-34-1 (2w), Chase 4-0-31-1 (1w), Joseph 4-0-57-1 (3w), Motie 2-0-14-0, Shepherd 2-0-20-0 (2w)

WEST INDIES:

J. Andrew c Hasan Ali b Haris Raufq 24

A. Athanaze c Khushdil b Saim 60

S. Hope c Saim b Nawaz 7

S. Rutherford c Sahibzada b Hasan Ali 51

R. Chase retired out 15

J. Holder b Sufiyan 0

R. Shepherd not out 4

G. Motie not out 10

EXTRAS (W-5) 5

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 176

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-44 (Andrew), 2-74 (Hope), 3-110 (Athanaze), 4-149 (Chase), 5-149 (Holder), 6-166 (Rutherford)

DID NOT BAT: K. Carty, A. Hosein, S. Joseph

BOWLING: Hasan Ali 3-0-38-1 (1w), Nawaz 3-0-33-1 (1w), Haris Rauf 4-0-34-1 (2w), Faheem 2-0-13-0, Saim 4-0-38-1 (1w), Sufiyan 4-0-20-1

RESULT: Pakistan won by 13 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Sahibzada Farhan

SERIES: Pakistan won the three-match series 2-1.

PLAYER-OF-THE-SERIES: Mohammad Nawaz

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2025