Having been completely outplayed by Pakistan during the opening T20I, West Indies needed to shed their indifferent approach if they were to stay alive in the 3-match series at UAE. They won an important toss and had no hesitancy in opting to chase by keeping the dew factor in mind. Understandably, both teams went into the contest without making any changes.
Leg-spinner Samuel Badree set the tone with a tight spell at the start of the innings. Aside from getting rid of the dangerous Sharjeel Khan, he managed to stifle the flow of runs by not providing any width. When it appeared like Pakistan were meandering along to a middling total, Shoaib Malik and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed joined hands to propel them towards the 160-mark.
Despite boasting numerous power-hitters, West Indies’ batting lineup had to adjust their style of play to the sluggish conditions at Dubai. However, their top-order flattered to deceive once again and they capsized quickly to lose wickets regularly even as the required rate kept on climbing. With beguiling use of his variations, Sohail Tanvir produced a remarkable spell to help Pakistan seize an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Let us take a look at the most important statistics from the engrossing encounter.
13 – Sharjeel Khan’s average against spinners in T20Is. In contrast, the burly left-hander averages a hefty 45 against the quicker bowlers.
17 – Dot balls delivered by Tanvir. In all, the canny seamer gave away just 13 runs from his full quota of overs and picked up three wickets.
25 – T20Is won by Pakistan when they had scored 150 or more while batting first, including this match. Overall, they have been involved in 28 such instances with only two losses and a tie.
32 – Number of T20Is for Badree so far. In every one of those matches, he has opened the bowling for West Indies.
36 – Runs conceded by Sunil Narine which is the third most in his T20I career. He had given away 50 runs from three overs against India at Lauderhill in 2016 and 46 runs against New Zealand at Auckland in 2014.
38 – Number of catches taken by Umar Akmal in T20Is. Only Ross Taylor (42) and AB de Villiers (40) have taken more catches in the format than Umar Akmal.
49 – Combined runs conceded by Imad Wasim from 12 overs in his previous three T20Is, including this one. The left-arm spinner also picked up 8 wickets in those matches.
50 – T20Is played by Marlon Samuels, thus far. The mercurial right-hander became the fourth West Indies player to achieve this milestone after Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle.
50 – Sohail Tanvir became the fourth Pakistani bowler to pick up 50 or more wickets in T20Is after Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal. Overall, 14 bowlers have now breached the 50-mark.
179 – Runs for Khalid Latif from his previous four T20Is, including this match with scores of 46, 59*, 34* and 40. In contrast, the 30-year old could only muster a total of 37 runs from his first 8 T20Is.
250 – Runs scored by Shoaib Malik from his last eight T20Is, including this game. The seasoned campaigner managed those at an eye-catching average of 83.33 and a strike-rate of 137.
1500 – Malik also became the tenth batsman to cross 1500 runs in T20Is. From Pakistan, Umar Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez had reached the landmark before him.
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