West Indies vs. Pakistan 3rd ODI: Five talking points

The first match of this five-match series ended in a humiliating defeat for the West Indies, suggesting that this might turn out to be an uninteresting, one-sided affair, but the series remains level after the first three games and it can hardly get more competitive than a tied match.

The first two matches saw the side batting second losing out while chasing moderate totals but West Indies made a brave and determined effort last night and found that fortune favoured them.

Jason Holder and Kemar Roach peppered the Pakistan batsman with short bowling and were rewarded with early wickets. Pakistan put up a familiar-looking 229 on the board batting first with the help of Misbah-ul-Haq‘s knock of 75 runs.

Umar Akmal’s quickfire 40 of 31 balls played a significant part as well. The chase was still going to be a tricky task given that the West Indian batsmen had been short of runs.

West Indies had a terrible start to the chase as Jackson Charles and Chris Gayle failed to give them the explosive start that was expected of them. Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels steadied the ship and it seemed that Bravo would play another significant innings before Wahab Riaz exacted a false shot out of him.

Lendl Simmons and Samuels blocked out all danger so much so that the asking rate climbed over six in the 26th over. Holder played a crucial knock of 19 runs as Pakistan pressed the panic button in a comedy of errors as the match ended in a tie.

Here are five talking points that were generated from the game:

West Indies bowler Jason Holder (Getty Images)

5. The short ball theory

It is difficult to understand how West Indies succeeded in puncturing the Pakistan batting line-up with the short ball. The pitch was not fast paced nor did it offer sharp bounce. Pakistan have three left-handed fast bowlers in their line-up who command exceptional pace and get definitely give their batsman a net-session of two with the short ball.

Holder and Roach have the pace and the accuracy to come with a wicket-taking short but even Darren Sammy managed to outdo Nasir Jamshed with a rising delivery. This is the preferred West Indian form of attack and the first two matches should have allowed Pakistan to make that observation but they still fell apart.

Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (Getty Images)

4. The folly of blocking

Both West Indies and Pakistan blocked away to glory in the middle overs after losing initial wickets. The circumstances required application and resilience but there are no faults in accumulating runs on the side.

While Misbah-ul-Haq is earning in a bit of a reputation in the act, Samuels had to go radically out-of-character to do the same. Samuels played 106 deliveries for his 46 runs allowing the run-rate to climb steeply in the middle overs.

Simmons was able to make up for his slow strike rate with some quality hitting at the latter end of his innings. Misbah’s act is almost a necessity given the impatience that the rest of the team suffers from but he needs to rotate the strike in the process.

West Indies’ Chris Gayle (Getty Images)

3. Continued batting failures

Kieron Pollard picked his fourth duck in last seven matches and his highest score in that span was 30, which came in the 2nd ODI. Gayle’s highest score in the last six innings is 14. Md. Hafeez’s highest score in the last six innings is 27. Afridi’s knock of 76 in the 1st ODI seems more like an exception considering the manner of his failures in the next two matches. Ahmed Shehzad has failed to impress in the three matches of the series at the top of the order.

The surfaces are difficult to bat upon but they are not unfamiliar to both the teams. Moreover, the performances of India and Sri Lanka in the West Indies have proved that scores in excess of 250 are not an improbability.

West Indies batsman Johnson Charles (R) stumped by Pakistan wicket-keeper Umar Akmal (L) in the 2nd ODI. (Getty Images)

2. Umar Akmal’s sloppy work

Though the tie was a fair result in many senses, Pakistan could have come out victors in the match if Umar Akmal had kept his eyes on the ball or had Pakistan had a genuine wicket-keeper plying the trade.

Kamran Akmal was dropped from the Pakistan squad for this trip dues his non-performance at the Champions Trophy with the bat. Umar Akmal was handed the job of keeping wickets even though that was never his primary task.

Dav Whatmore talked about how the selection allowed greater balance in the side but the absence of a quality keeper was exposed last night. Umar Akmal’s efforts with the bat have been commendable but he would have had nightmares about the lost opportunity.

Pakistan bowler Saeed Ajmal (C) celebrates with Umar Akmal (R) (Getty Images)

1. Panic Attack

Pakistan are gradually compiling a history of choking in pressure situations. They were firmly in control of the match with almost 40 runs required of the last 3 overs in a game, which saw competent middle-order batsmen score at a strike rate of below 50. Moreover, there were no established batsmen available for slogging.

Saeed Ajmal, becoming more and more of a death overs specialist, was available to the skipper. In short, everything was going in Pakistan’s favour. Credit must be given to Sunil Narine for his blitz against Ajmal scoring 14 runs of 4 balls that went a long way in securing the tie for West Indies.

He got Ajmal bowling the way he wanted him to bowl as the trajectory got flatter and flatter. The inexperience of Wahab Riaz was costly as Holder was able to land some lusty blows in the last over.

The rest of this series is if half as enthralling as this match, it will be a delight to watch.