- The two-wicket win sees the hosts level the series following a pulsating contest
FLORIDA: This was not so much a game as an exhibition to showcase the brilliance of Jason Holder.
The allrounder opened the bowling, took four wickets across phases of the Pakistan innings, walked into bat when the equation was steepest, and won West Indies the second T20I with a boundary off the final delivery from Shaheen Shah Afridi.
The two-wicket win sees the hosts level the series following a pulsating contest, one that ended with a savage Holder swipe past fine leg when they needed three off one and a yell of unadulterated joy that ripped through Florida.
West Indies had won just two of their last 19 completed T20Is before this but began as the better of the two sides, puncturing Pakistan with early wickets that left them trying to catch up through the middle overs. They accomplished this to a point thanks to a counterattacking 60-run fifth-wicket partnership between Salman Agha and Hasan Nawaz, only for Holder’s double-strike to peg them back again. The hosts dominated the final five overs which saw Pakistan produce just 23 runs, setting Shai Hope’s side an eminently manageable 134 for victory.
But batting appeared only to be getting more difficult, and Pakistan’s immaculate bowling complicated matters further for a tentative West Indies. Beyond a brief early flair from Jewel Andrew, West Indies soon fell behind the asking rate, epitomised by a tortured stay at the crease for captain Hope, who limped to 21 in 30 deliveries. With spinners scything through the middle order, it fell once more to Holder to pull off a heist.
There was some support from the other end as Gudakesh Motie and Romario Shepherd struck blows of their own. But just when West Indies had it in control, they appeared to lose it once more as Holder found himself stranded at the non-striker’s end for large parts of the final two overs. He was given the most consequential delivery of all though – the final one. When Afridi tried the surprise delivery by going at the pads rather than wide outside off, Holder found a way to get enough bat on it, slicing through two fielders, dashing Pakistan’s dreams in the process.
Holder was on fire with the bat as the first T20I closed out, taking West Indies closer to the target than they appeared on track for throughout the innings. With ball in hand, he carried on where he left off in the powerplay, drawing Saim Ayub into a slog wide outside off which kissed the edge. His opening partner Sahibzada Farhan, too, fell to Holder in the fourth over. Holder was everywhere, taking a sharp catch that sent Mohammad Haris on his way to reduce Pakistan to 21 for 3.
An hour or so later, Pakistan had stormed their way back into the game. Hasan Nawaz shook off a stodgy start to wallop Shepherd for three successive sixes to round out the 15th over and put Pakistan on target for a total in excess of 150. Once more, though, it was Holder who dragged them back, inducing Hasan Nawaz into a chip back to him to send him on his way. He would round out his bowling figures by dismissing the other Nawaz – Mohammad – and his figures of 4 for 19 did not flatter him in the slightest.
When Agha won the toss, he broke somewhat with modern convention and opted to bat, saying he believed the conditions would assist spin towards the back-end of the game. For the best part of the West Indies innings, Mohammad Nawaz, Ayub and Sufiyan Muqeem set about proving their captain right.
Mohammad Nawaz broke open the West Indies innings in the powerplay, removing the top three and putting paid to any notion this would be a straightforward chase. Ayub, often only good for the odd over or two, ended up bowling his full quota, showcasing his full range of variations as he removed Sherfane Rutherford and Roston Chase, while Muqeem’s masterful control of pace, length and spin tormented West Indies at a time they needed quick runs. The trio combined for six wickets in 12 overs for 53 runs and had set Pakistan up nicely by the time they were done. But for Holder.
Thirty-one runs ahead. For all the tight margins this game saw, for all of Pakistan’s poor powerplay and sluggish start with the bat, this was how far clear they were of West Indies after the 15-over mark for each side. And though West Indies bludgeoned their way to 56 in their final 30 balls, it should have been nowhere near enough given this gulf at that late stage between the sides.
If you sense this is getting repetitive, it’s impossible to talk about this game without coming back to Holder. With Hasan Nawaz breaking the shackles with three straight sixes, Holder’s removal of the batter suddenly deprived Pakistan of their only free-flowing slogger. Though Pakistan pride themselves on batting deep, their lower order – unlike West Indies – fell apart under that pressure. The bottom five managed 13 runs between them, none with a strike rate better than a run a ball, and West Indies suddenly found bowling very easy as the boundaries dried up and the dot balls began to pool. Those three Nawaz sixes were the last boundaries Pakistan scored in their innings, and as Holder showed, hitting boundaries right down to the very last ball can be the difference between victory and defeat.
