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Pakistan romped West Indies by 63 runs in their first T20I match played at National Stadium, Karachi to lead the three-T20I series by 1-0. With this convincing victory, Pakistan have become first team to win 18 T20Is in a calendar year.
Pakistan rode on Rizwan’s sensational 78-run knock to set up a colossal 201-run target in their stipulated 20 overs. Mohammed Wasim Jr (4 for 40) and Shadab Khan (3 for 17) did the rest with their superb spells as they skittled out West Indies to a paltry 137 who struggled to keep up with the required run rate since the start.
Earlier West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran chose to bowl after winning the toss. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was dismissed for a duck by Akeal Hosein excellent delivery was a major jolt for the batting side.
However, wicketkeeper-batter Rizwan rose to the occasion and steadied Pakistan’s boat as he took West Indies bowlers to cleaners in his splendid knock of 78 runs. His 52-ball innings was studded with ten boundaries that saw the Caribbeans in all sorts of bother.
Haider Ali also played a crucial knock to emerge the second fiddle with a quickfire 68-run in which he cracked four big ones and six fours. Both the batters kept the scoreboard running despite losing wickets in regular intervals. Rizwan-Ali shared a 105-run partnership for the third wicket to set a platform for big total.
At the end, allrounder Mohammed Nawaz played a crucial cameo of 30 off 10 and guided Pakistan to a daunting total of 200. Romario Shepherd was pick of the bowlers for West Indies as he scalped two big wickets of Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman in his spell of 2 for 43 while Akeal, Oshane Thomas, Dominic Drakes and Odean Smith snared a wicket each.
Batting second, Shai Hope was the lone performer for the Nicolas Pooran-led team as he scored a spirited 31 off 26.
Once again the highly touted West Indian batting line-up collapsed and wilted under pressure although the lower-order showed some grit to fight but their efforts went in vain.
