Abu Dhabi: Under the bright lights of Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, the West Indies top order failed to pick left-arm spinner Imad Wasim once again and plunged into utter darkness ahead of the ODI series as they lost the third and final T20 International by eight wickets yesterday.
Wasim finished with figures of three for 21 and emerged as the most successful bowler in the series with a total of nine wickets. Pakistan completed the rout over the 2016 World T20 Champions and emerged as a new force in T20 by chasing down the modest total of 104 for win losing two wickets in 15.1 overs.
Shoaib Malik, who smashed a six of Carlos Brathwaite over long on to seal the win, remained unbeaten on 43 off 34 deliveries along with Babar Azam, who scored 27 off 24 balls.
The clean sweep was Pakistan’s first in a three-match T20 series. The last time Pakistan won a T20 series here was in 2012 against Australia by a 2-1 margin.
Windies, who had already washed their hands off the T20 series title after back-to-back defeats, trying to save a white-wash were straight away on a sticky wicket after being put into bat. Wasim, who last week became the first Pakistani spinner and second bowler after Umar Gul to claim five wickets in T20s, straight away sent jitters in the Windies’ camp by claiming two wickets off two consecu-tive deliveries.
Troubled waters
It wasn’t a big turner but a straighter one that slid in from the length and knocked Johnson Charles’ middle stumps as the latter tried to manufacture a slog sweep. Chadwick Walton, who walked in next, too was in and out in a flash.
Wasim’s another one sliding on with the arm stayed a bit low and after brushing the bottom toe-edge off the bat, before crashing on to the off stumps.
Then the visitors slipped into more troubled waters after Andre Fletcher ran himself out trying to attempt a non-existing single and the scoreboard read a miserable 17 for 3.
Mohammed Amir, rested for the first two T20s, was also given an opportunity along with debutant Rumman Raees and that drew in a lot of crowd. Amir had figured last in a series in the UAE, before the spot fixing scandal, way back in 2009 against New Zealand.
With Amir and Mohammad Nawaz bowling in tandem, the Windies had both experienced batsman Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuel to resurrect the innings.
However, Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmad brought Wasim back in the attack in the eighth over and the 27-year-old immediately struck with another wicket.
This time Bravo trying to attempt a cover-drive, missed the line and the tick edge clipped the leg-stump.
Samuel hung around till the end for a 59-ball unbeaten 42 as Windies snailed to the 100 mark in 19.3 overs before finishing with a total of 103 for 5.
