Pakistan wrapped up their tour of the West Indies with an 11-run win in the second Twenty20 international in St Vincent on Sunday to complete a one-day double over the world T20 champions.
The visitors ran through the home team’s top order at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown to lay the foundation for success as they defended a modest target of 135 for seven by restricting the West Indies to 124 for nine from their 20 overs.
It ensured a successful conclusion to Pakistan’s tour on the back of a 3-1 win in the five-match ODI series played in Guyana and St Lucia.
Opener Ahmed Shehzad scored a breezy 44 in 53 balls but was not supported by his partners. His departure for the fourth wicket in the 13th over brought Umar Akmal to the crease and he took over the scoring responsibility on a slow track.
While spinner Sunil Narine threatened to sweep through the rest of the Pakistan batting, taking three wickets in a second spell at the end of the innings, Akmal helped push the tally to 135 with an unbeaten 46 off 56 balls.
In reply, West Indies lost their first three wickets in three overs, including another failure for Chris Gayle, who lobbed a ball straight to cover and was out for one.
Dwayne Bravo, Narine and Kieron Pollard threatened a dramatic rescue, even though the asking run rate went to more than 12 an over.
During a dramatic 17th over, Pollard smashed 20 runs off the first four balls with two sixes landing on the roof of the stand.
Zulfiqar Babar then had him caught in the deep and took a second wicket with the next ball, dismissing Bravo in similar fashion. Tino Best, the last man in, threatened some drama too with two huge sixes but fell short in the end.
SCOREBOARD
Pakistan innings
Ahmed Shehzad c Simmons b Pollard 44
Mohammad Hafeez c Simmons b Badree 10
Umar Amin c & b Sammy 7
Haris Sohail c & b Badree 1
Umar Akmal not out 46
Shahid Afridi c Samuels b Narine 6
Hammad Azam st Charles b Narine 1
Sohail Tanvir c Bravo b Narine 0
Zulfiqar Babar not out 11
Extras (b 2, lb 4, w 3) 9
Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 135
Did not bat Saeed Ajmal, Asad Ali
Fall of wickets 1-24 (Mohammad Hafeez, 3.6 ov), 2-39 (Umar Amin, 6.1 ov), 3-42 (Haris Sohail, 7.6 ov), 4-78 (Ahmed Shehzad, 12.5 ov), 5-96 (Shahid Afridi, 15.5 ov), 6-109 (Hammad Azam, 17.2 ov), 7-109 (Sohail Tanvir, 17.5 ov)
Bowling: DJG Sammy 4-0-20-1, S Badree 4-0-16-2, SP Narine 4-0-26-3, TL Best 2-0-16-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-35-0, KA Pollard 2-0-16-1
West Indies innings
J Charles c Umar b Tanvir 0
CH Gayle c Afridi b Hafeez 1
MN Samuels c Umar b Tanvir 1
LMP Simmons b Afridi 3
DJ Bravo c Hammad b Babar 35
SP Narine c Amin b Ajmal 28
KA Pollard c Sohail b Babar 23
DJG Sammy c Afridi b Ajmal 1
CD Barnwell run out (Azam/Umar) 10
TL Best not out 17
S Badree not out 1
Extras (lb 1, w 2, nb 1) 4
Total (9 wickets; 20 overs) 124
Fall of wickets 1-2 (Charles, 1.4 ov), 2-2 (Gayle, 2.2 ov), 3-4 (Samuels, 3.1 ov), 4-17 (Simmons, 7.6 ov), 5-64 (Narine, 13.3 ov), 6-94 (Pollard, 16.5 ov), 7-94 (Bravo, 16.6 ov), 8-105 (Barnwell, 17.6 ov), 9-105 (Sammy, 18.3 ov)
Bowling: Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-9-1, Sohail Tanvir 4-0-20-2, Zulfiqar Babar 4-0-37-2, Shahid Afridi 3-0-29-1, Saeed Ajmal 4-0-21-2, Asad Ali 1-0-7-0
Toss Pakistan, who chose to bat
Series Pakistan won the 2-match series 2-0
T20I debuts Asad Ali and Haris Sohail (Pakistan)
Player of the match Umar Akmal (Pakistan)
Player of the series Zulfiqar Babar (Pakistan)
Umpires GO Brathwaite and JS Wilson
TV umpire PJ Nero
Match referee DC Boon (Australia)
Reserve umpire DK Butler