Thu, 21 Apr 2011 - PAK vs WI, Pakistan Tour of West Indies 2011, Only T20 International- Bulletin

Debutant Bishoo scripts Windies win

Debutant leg spinner Devendra Bishoo’s four wicket haul scripted an impressive seven run victory for inexperienced West Indies team over Pakistan in the only t-20 match that also marked first between these two sides in this format.The win should boost confidence of new look side that saw home team fielding as many as four debutants including Bishoo who was star performer with the ball.

Although Pakistan did give some tough moments to West Indies thanks to fighting and breezy knock from number ten Saeed Ajmal but Bishoo had done enough earlier to virtually ending the Pakistan challenge in the middle overs of their chase. Bishoo first over in international t-20’s was full of drama as he got wickets of Asad Shafiq and Misbah ul Haq (hit-wicket)on consecutive deliveries to rip heart out of Pakistan middle order.

In pursuit of 151 runs, both Pakistan openers Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmad Shehzad went cheaply to lift the West Indies belief that they could pull this one off. Young leg spinner who made ODI debut in world cup showed a terrific temperament and skills as he added the wickets of Shahid Afridi and Abdur Rehman later to his tally to complete his memorable debut.

There was some resistance from Umar Akmal hitting run a ball 41 but he succumbed to mounting asking rate and wickets falling around him as he tried to clear deep midwicket only to hole out in the deep. Ajmal tried all he could with 14-ball 21 including two fours in penultimate over in which he looted 15 runs to raise hopes of improbable win but he was left to do too much as Andre Russell held his nerve to concede only six runs in the last over.

Skipper Darren Sammy who off late has come under lot of criticism for not contributing in either department was phenomenal in the field taking two catches, running out Salman Ahmad and taking a wicket of Mohammad Hafeez as well.

Earlier, West Indies had a familiar batting collapse wasting a strong platform only posting 150 runs in the end. Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo combined together after an early loss of a wicket to take attack to the Pakistan bowlers. The young batting pair looked in a dominating mood from the word go as sparse crowd in the stadium were treated to some gorgeous strokes as run came thick and fast for the West Indies.

Simmons making a comeback after a year in hiatus was aggressive against both spinners and fast bowlers to give West Indies a flying platform. He was very severe against spinners playing sweep shots and cutting the ball with precisions and hit fast bowlers off the length playing some cracking drives. Simmons hit seven boundaries and a couple of sixes in his 65 that came off 44 balls.

With batting style like Great Brain Lara, Darren Bravo is enhancing reputation after every outing as took liking to Pakistan bowlers using his feet against the spinners and attacking fast bowlers without any fuss piling quick fire 99 runs with Simmons on his way to a 33-ball 42.

West Indies were going strong at 101 for the loss of only Fletcher in 12 overs but losing both Simmons and Bravo in a quick succession triggered a typical batting collapse with last six overs yielding only 50 runs and losing five wickets.

Pakistan came back strongly with Wahab Riaz and Saeed Ajmal took two wickets apiece in their comeback spells to restrict Caribbean side to a lesser total that what it was looking for when Bravo and Simmons were batting.

Batting collapse didn’t seem to have affected home team as they defended the total with all-round performance in the field and during the course unearthing potentially a future star by name Bishoo.