Defending champions West Indies kept their title bid in the ICC World Twenty20 on track on Tuesday, crushing Pakistan by 84 runs in Dhaka to set up a semi-final against Sri Lanka.
Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy plundered 71 off 32 balls in their sixth wicket stand to power West Indies to 166-6 before Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine put Pakistan in a spin.
Badree and Narine shared six wickets between them as Pakistan were dismissed for 82 in 17.5 overs, their second lowest total in Twenty20 Internationals.
The match turned decisively in West Indies’ way in the last five overs of their innings when they added 82 runs to completely demoralise their opponents.
Pakistan were left wondering what went wrong with their bowling after Umar Gul went for 18 runs in the 18th over and Saeed Ajmal gave up 24 in the 19th to finish with 0-41.
This was only the second time in his 64-match career that Ajmal had conceded more than 40 runs in a match, a fact which was enough to destroy the confidence of the Pakistan team.
One theory came from the Pakistan camp that West Indies spin consultant Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan spinner who invented the doosra, must have given the batsmen some tips on how to handle Ajmal and his fellow spinners.
That, however, cannot take anything away from Bravo and Sammy, who were also the architects of West Indies’ six-wicket win over Australia.
Bravo bludgeoned 46 off 26 balls, while Sammy, who protected himself for the last few overs by sending Dinesh Ramdin in ahead of him, clubbed 42 from 20 to stay not out.
Before Pakistan could absorb the shock, they lost a wicket off the first ball of their innings, losing their centurion from the last match, Ahmed Shehzad, lbw to left-arm pacer Krishmar Santokie.
Leg-spinner Badree (3-10) claimed one wicket in each of his first three overs as Pakistan were soon 13-4, threatening the Netherlands’ lowest ever Twenty20 International score of 39 by some distance.
Mohammad Hafeez helped Pakistan avoid that humiliation, but once he fell to Andre Russell for 19, the 2009 champions collapsed again. Narine expedited West Indies’ win with 3-16 as Pakistan caved in without any fight.
West Indies will now face Sri Lanka in the first semi-final on Thursday, while Pakistan will return home after losing their second game.
BRIEF SCORES
West Indies 166-6 in 20 overs (D Bravo 46, D Sammy 42, L Simmons 31; M Hafeez 1-15) v Pakistan 82 in 17.5 overs (M Hafeez 19, S Afridi 18, S Maqsood 18; S Badree 3-10, S Narine 3-16).
Result: West Indies won by 84 runs.
Man of the match: D Bravo (WI)
-With New Age input
