Batting first after winning the toss, Pakistan were all out for 232 in 49 overs, almost 40 runs short of the target they were hoping to set.
Despite a century by Shivnarine Chanderpaul (107 not out), the capacity crowd at the 20,000-seat Sheikh Zayed Stadium, comprising mostly of Pakistan supporters, were not disappointed as the West Indies were bowled out for 208.
In the first match on Wednesday, Pakistan won by four wickets. The final match of the series is on Sunday.
“This is a huge confidence-boosting win for Pakistan after all the setbacks we have had,” a delighted captain Shoaib Malik said. “The total we put up was less than what we wanted to, but our bowlers did an excellent job.
“We went into the match with an extra spinner in Saeed Ajmal, and he did the job for us after Sohail Tanvir gave us a great start.”
The victory was set up by Sohail, who first contributed 26 runs in 20 deliveries for Pakistan, and later picked up two for 32 to take the Man-of-the-Match award. The left-arm paceman had six wides in his first three overs, but also bowled two superb deliveries to remove both the West Indies openers before they could score a run.
Captain Chris Gayle, who scored a century in the first match, was bowled by an in-swinging yorker in the last ball of his first over. And all Sewnarine Chattergoon could do against a ball that left him late was nick it to wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal.“It’s a young team and we performed well, but we can’t just keep saying that. We need to step up and win,” Gayle said. “Chanderpaul and [Ramnaresh] Sarwan batted well and steadied the innings after we lost two quick wickets, but once Sarwan was out, we kept losing wickets as regular intervals and could not put up any meaningful partnership.”
West Indian coach John Dyson said losing early wickets was a setback.“I think losing both the openers was crucial and [Sohail] Tanvir swung the ball nicely,” said the former Australian opener.
Chanderpaul hit an extremely scratchy knock and he was dropped twice – on 17 and 63 – by Saeed Ajmal. The bowler to suffer the first time was Umar Gul, followed by Shahid Afridi.
The West Indian, named the ICC Cricketer of the Year for his consistent performance in 2007-08, laboured to his 50 in 94 balls. Both his boundaries until then were results of inside edges which whistled past the wickets. He was a little better thereafter, reaching his ninth ODI hundred in 139 balls with six fours.
But once the West Indies lost Sarwan (45) after adding 92 for the third wicket with Chanderpaul, it was a lost cause for the Caribbean.
Saeed may have dropped the two catches of Chanderpaul, but the off-spinner bowled well enough to take 1-38 and contained the West Indies batsmen along with Afridi (1-42). Umar Gul (3-44) was the most successful bowler for Pakistan.
Pakistan had to leave out paceman Shoaib Akhtar for the second match in row after the flamboyant bowler failed to fully recover from a calf muscle injury.
Pakistan brought in paceman Rao Iftikhar and Saeed Ajmal, dropping Abdur Rauf and Fawad Alam from the first match line-up.
West Indies replaced Brendan Nash with Shawn Findlay.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
Salman Butt c and b Taylor 7
Khurram Manzoor b Powell 0
Younis Khan b Powell 34
Misbah-ul-Haq c Powell b Miller 52
Shoaib Malik run out 10
Kamran Akmal b Baker 45
Shahid Afridi c Baugh b Taylor 28
Sohail Tanvir run out 26
Rao Iftikhar c Baugh b Taylor 7
Umar Gul c Gayle b Powell 13
Saeed Ajmal not out 4
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-2, NB-1) 6
Total (all out, 49 overs) 232
FALL OF WKTS: 1-7, 2-7, 3-58, 4-86, 5-125, 6-177, 7-179, 8-199, 9-218.
BOWLING: Powell 8-0-50-3 (1nb, 1w); Taylor 9-1-38-3 (1w); Baker 10-0-35-1; Miller 10-0-40-1; Gayle 10-0-43-0; Sarwan 2-0-23-0.
WEST INDIES:
C.H. Gayle b Sohail 0
S. Chattergoon c Kamran b Sohail 0
R.R. Sarwan lbw b Afridi 45
S. Chanderpaul not out 107
X.M. Marshall run out 1
S.E. Findlay run out 12
C.S. Baugh b Umar Gul 3
J.E. Taylor lbw b Rao Iftikhar 0
N.O. Miller c Kamran b Saeed 12
D.B.L. Powell b Umar Gul 6
L.S. Baker b Umar Gul 0
EXTRAS (LB-6, W-16) 22
TOTAL (all out, 48.5 overs) 208
FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-14, 3-106, 4-112, 5-143, 6-168, 7-170, 8-196, 9-208.
BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 9-0-32-2 (8w); Umar Gul 9.5-3-44-3 (1w); Rao Iftikhar 9-0-40-1 (4w); Shahid Afridi 10-0-42-1; Saeed Ajmal 9-1-38-1 (2w); Shoaib Malik 2-0-6-0 (1w).
RESULT: Pakistan won by 24 runs.
UMPIRES: S.J. Davis and D.J. Harper (both Australia).
TV UMPIRE: M.R. Benson (England).
MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sohail Tanvir.
FIRST MATCH: Pakistan won by four wickets.
THIRD MATCH: Sunday.—Agencies