Nottingham: Fast bowler Oshane Thomas (4/27) and skipper Jason Holder (3/42) shared seven wickets between them followed by a fluent half century by veteran Chris Gayle (50, 34b, 6×4, 3×6) as West Indies began their World Cup campaign in style crushing Pakistan by seven wickets in a one-sided encounter at Trent Bridge Friday.
The Pakistan batting line-up who opted out to rest experienced Shoaib Malik and hard-hitting Asif Ali bundled out for just 105 runs in 21.4 overs, their second lowest in the tournament’s history.
In reply, West Indies cruised to victory in just 13.4 overs, riding on Gayle’s half century. In the process, the ‘Universe Boss’, as he is fondly called by his fans broke the record for the most sixes hit in World Cup history. He now has 40 maximums, three more than retired South African batsman AB de Villiers.
“It was a good game. I think the bowlers were outstanding today (Friday),” said Holder. “We kept our foot on the accelerator. We’ve eased off in the past but it was good to see the killer instinct. We wanted to be aggressive. It’s the nature of our cricket with bat, ball and in the field.
The only positive for Pakistan was three wickets for paceman Mohammad Amir (3/26) on his World Cup debut after he missed the 2011 and 2015 tournaments due to a spot-fixing ban of 2010.
Amir had Shai Hope (11), Darren Bravo (zero) and Gayle caught in an incisive six-over spell, but the batsmen had not put enough runs on the board to give the bowlers a chance.
Pakistan’s sloppy and vulnerable batting was cruelly exposed by some short-pitched bowling by the West Indies pacemen on a Trent Bridge pitch famous for big totals.
Sent into bat first, the 1992 champions had a disastrous start, losing opener Imam-ul-Haq (two) cheaply. Fakhar Zaman (22) and Babar Azam (22) tried to steady the ship but couldn’t continue the flow falling to Andre Russell (2/4) and Thomas respectively with the score reading 45/3 in 9.4 overs. However, there was no looking back for Caribbean side as they kept on taking wickets at regular intervals. Experienced Mohammed Hafeez (16) tried to provide some resistance but failed, while Wahab Riaz’s (18) late surge helped them past 100-run mark.
“Very disappointed at the batting. I was very confident before the match, batting was a key point but we didn’t apply it to the short ball. Credit to the West Indian bowlers, they bowled really well,” Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed said after the match.
Brief scores: Pakistan 105 (Babar Azam 22, Fakhar Zaman 22; Thomas 4/27, Holder 3/42) lost to West Indies 108/3 (Chris Gayle 50; Amir 3/26) by seven wickets.
