Pakistan romped to an emphatic nine-wicket win over World Twenty20 champions West Indies in the series opener at Dubai International Stadium on Friday night.
Left-arm spinner Imad Wasim took a career best five for 14 to skittle out the tourists for 115, with only Dwayne Bravo (55) and No. 10 Jerome Taylor (21) reaching double-figures.
Pakistan were home with more than five overs to spare with Babar Azam hitting an unbeaten on 55 from 37 balls making 116-1 in 14.2 overs.
Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in three-match series.
The victory gave Pakistan’s new T20 captain Sarfraz Ahmed two in two after taking over in his team’s nine wicket win over England at Manchester earlier this month.
“All credit goes to the boys, and the way they are working hard, and giving their 100 percent on the field, if you look at the Manchester match and this match, our effort is to motivate the boys and we have really been focusing on fielding, and the boys have responded well, and all our plans are working well, and we have been able to get good results because of that,” said Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed at the post-match press conference.
Dwayne Bravo hit a gritty half-century to avoid a total disaster, adding a new world record Twenty20 stand of 66 runs for the ninth wicket with Jerome Taylor who made 21, after West Indies stumbled to 48-8.
“I bowl wicket to wicket and this brought me wickets,” said Wasim who was declared man of the match. “I try to give my hundred percent every time.”
West Indian skipper Carlos Brathwaite blamed his batsmen.
“We didn’t have a good start, so we need to change things quickly because there are back to back matches,” said Brathwaite.
“I don’t think we assessed the conditions quickly enough. Majority of the shots didn’t show situation awareness. I don’t want to just say we didn’t bat well, credit must go to Imad Wasim who bowled fantastically, anytime you get 5-14 in an International match you must be doing something right, and to get it in a T20 International is even better,” he added.
The second match will also be played in Dubai on Saturday while the third is in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Both teams will also play three one-day internationals and as many Tests.