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IN PICS: Pakistan thump Windies to take 1-0 ODI series lead

Barnaby Read 23:02 30/09/2016
It was another dominant performance from West Indies.

An 111-run victory gave them a 1-0 series lead as Pakistan look to move above their opponents in the ODI rankings, with a World Cup qualification spot very much on the minds of both teams.

Pakistan need to win the series 3-0 to move into eighth in the rankings which will determine the automatic full member slots at the next World Cup.

They gave themselves a real chance of doing just that as 21-year-old Babar first combined with Sharjeel Khan after under-fire captain Azhar Ali was dismissed for a diamond duck, nicking behind to Denesh Ramdin off Shannon Gabriel.

It was the ideal start for West Indies, but Babar and Sharjeel combined in an 82-run stand for the second wicket, a partnership that steadied the ship as Babar allowed Sharjeel to do the majority of the running.

By the time Sharjeel departed for 54 the onus shifted to Babar who made his slow start count by going on to score big.

He converted his fifty from 73 balls at a strike-rate of 68.49 into a superbly crafted 120 from 131 balls at a rate of 91.60.

Babar was rarely troubled but was handed a reprieve in the same over of Sharjeel’s departure when he was saved by the umpire’s call of the review system despite a large chunk of the ball showing as hitting the bails, Sulieman Benn’s lbw review the latest victim of a confused DRS system.

Babar made his luck count, combining composure and elegance throughout his innings with a late surge that upped the tempo.

It was going to take something sensational to remove him and Kieron Pollard did just that.

The West Indies all-rounder, as he has so often in his career, brought about Babar’s demise with a stunning catch on the boundary that brought the Sharjah crowd to their feet.

Pollard’s one-handed effort was a flash in the pan moment of brilliance in an otherwise tepid West Indies outing in the field.

The visitors once again looked to be going through the motions, joining the near full crowd in watching on in awe as Babar went about his business.

Such was the majesty, it seemed as though the stadium didn’t want to go on without him as a burnt cable put one of the floodlights out of action, causing an hour and 20 minute delay in proceedings and costing each team an over of their innings.

When they did return Pakistan reached 284-9 before Duckworth-Lewis revised that target to 287.

It set West Indies the task of beating their own record highest successful run chase in the ground’s history, their 285 victory over the same opponents in the 1995 Champions Trophy final.

That was no mean feat and after the departure of Johnson Charles, the West Indies made a sluggish start that meant they were behind the running from the off.

Kraigg Brathwaite, making his ODI debut, laboured to 14 from 38 deliveries before departing, highlighting the inability in the team to convert a studious approach into a substantial score a la Babar.

The wickets continued to fall at a steadier rate than the scoreboard ticked over as the tourists capitulated, unable to either find the boundary or rotate the strike with enough regularity to get close to Pakistan’s total.

Nawaz was the trouble maker in chief, taking 4-42 from his 10 overs to ensure West Indies never got close.

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