West Indies vs Pakistan: 1st ODI - 5 talking points of the match

Shahid Afridi made a stunning comeback against West Indies

Pakistan brushed aside West Indies in the first ODI of a five-match series courtesy a stellar performance from the comeback man Shahid Afridi.

West Indies got off to a good start as they chose to field after winning the toss playing at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The surface was fresh and conditions were overcast, so it was an easy decision to take for Dwayne Bravo. Jason Holder’s spell dispelled any remaining doubts as he ran through Pakistan’s top order.

Misbah-ul-Haq promoted himself to number four as promised and plugged one end, but wickets continued to fall at the other end till Shahid Afridi arrived.

The two players, who have had their share of differences, played on in their contrasting styles to steady the ship. Misbah-ul-Haq finished with a half-century that came off 121 balls, whereas Afridi stroked 76 runs off just 55 balls to take Pakistan to a competitive score of 224 runs.

West Indies had the tall task of facing Pakistan’s potent pace battery, but they fell apart without much fight. Johnson Charles was dismissed on the very first ball that he faced and West Indies exaggerated their own troubles as Chris Gayle became victim to a disastrous run-out. Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuels tried to steady the ship, but in vain as Shahid Afridi started weaving his magic.

Here is a look at five talking points that were generated from the game:

5. Pakistan’s batting woes

Youngsters like Ahmed Shehzad need to grab their chances in this series

Pakistan might have won the match convincingly, but they have more than their share of worries as far as their batting is concerned. Nasir Jamshed and Md. Hafeez who will have the responsibility of scoring a bulk of Pakistan’s runs in the rest of this series could not get double-figures. In fact, only two batsmen crossed the twenty run mark.

Before Misbah-ul-Haq and Afridi rescued the side, the team was reeling at 47/5. The likes of Ahmed Shehzad and Asad Shafiq who have been given an opportunity to find a permanent place in this side that is desperately in need for quality batsmen who can hold the innings together, need to take their chances in the rest of this series.

4. Extreme reliance upon Gayle and Charles

West Indies are over-dependent on their openers

The two victories that West Indies earned in the tri-nation series were largely earned by the brilliant individual performances of Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle who are both explosive batsmen.

Their native style of batting is such that they can snatch a game away from the opposition on their day, but that leaves them equally vulnerable to frequent failures as they follow their attacking instinct.

The problem will be aggrevated all the more in this series as Pakistan boast of a lethal pace battery that will get those early wickets more often than not. West Indies need to back up their opening pair by a quality middle-order.

3. Holder’s heroics

Jason Holder broke Pakistan’s batting order’s back

Jason Holder, who was left out of the first part of the tri-nations series squad, ran through the Pakistan top-order in an exhibition of some quality bowling with the new ball. He was rewarded for his control over his line and length as he strived to be wicket-to-wicket and on the fuller side with the new ball.

Three of the four dismissals he claimed came either as leg-before or clean bowled. He accounted for four top-order batsmen, finishing with mind-boggling figures of 4/13 in his 10 overs. He has the potential to form a formidable partnership with Kemar Roach and with Ravi Rampaul’s swing added to the mix when he recovers from injury, West Indies will have a more-than-fair attack to depend upon.

Holder’s performance would have earned West Indies the match on any other day, but it was a pity that Shahid Afridi turned on the style.

2. Misbah-ul-Haq’s obstinacy

Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi played in extremely contrasting ways

One can’t find a better word for the strange, but critical innings that Misbah-ul-Haq played in the match but ‘obstinacy’. He walked in at 18/2 in the 7th over and departed as the eight wicket at 200 in the 48th over of the match, consuming 121 deliveries for a knock of just 52 runs at a strike rate of just over 40.

It was a match-winning performances given the circumstances, but it would not have been the same without Shahid Afridi’s breezy knock of 76. And so would have been the case with Afridi’s innings, which would not have been the same either without his skipper’s calm presence at the other end.

Misbah was the perfect catalyst for the highly reactive material with which Shahid Afridi is made. The captain is exactly the kind of batsman this highly vulnerable Pakistan batting line-up needs at number four.

1. Boom Boom Afridi

Boom boom Afridi!

Therewas a patch in Afridi’s career when the big sixes dried up, the wickets became infrequent, and the ‘boom-boom’ was reduced to a whimper, but what showmanship he still displayd!

The all-rounder took 7-wickets for a miserly 12 runs in his 9 overs (beat that Jason Holder) and perhaps more critically scored a match-winning knock of 76 runs yesterday. This was the third time that Afridi scored a half-century as well as took five-wickets in the same game, a feat no player has ever achieved more than once. Also, he became the only player in ODI history to have taken over 350 wickets alongside 7000 runs.

The statistics aside, it was a key performance for the player as he was making a comeback to the side after Pakistan’s Champions Trophy debacle. He talked about that aspect passionately in the post-match conference and said that it was no time, at this stage of his career, to ‘survive’ in the team; it was rather a time to contribute to the team’s success and that is exactly what he did.