Daily Times

Once again Pakistan batting failed to click. And once again it let Pakistan down. After winning the first two Twenty20 internationals, Sarfaz Ahmad and his charges lost the third by seven wickets at Port of Spain on Saturday. Except for Kamran Akmal, who made enterprising 48 and Babar Azam, who scored entertaining 43, the remaining batsman failed miserably, and the visitors were unable to post a formidable total. West Indies had only 138 to chase down, but it was still more than the targets they couldn’t get in the first two contests. And all that was because they were unable to read the teenager spinner – Shadab Khan – who ran through their batting line-up. Shadab claimed a match-winning three-for and a four-for against the Caribbean giants. But this time opener Evin Lewis made sure that those bad memories didn’t well up, and more importantly that the series stayed alive. The 25-year-old smashed his first T20I fifty – he already has a hundred – countering everything that was thrown at him. What a marvelous and exceptional innings he played. He literally put the Pakistan bowlers to sword. He was involved in two successive fifty partnerships. Lewis led both of them, putting on 56 runs in 40 balls with Marlon Samuels and 76 off 40 with debutant Jason Mohammed. No doubt, this was the batting performance everyone was waiting for from the world champions.

With bowling changes, Pakis tan captain Sarfraz Ahmed desperately tried to stem the flood of runs, but the Lewis assault was unstoppable. Lewis belted nine sixes in his dazzling innings of 91 off 51 balls. It was highest score by any batsman against Pakistan in T20Is and his lasting 14.4 overs in the chase completely nullified Shadab’s impact. Until this match, the 18-year old legspinner had taken seven wickets at an average of 3 and strike-rate of 6.8. In the third tie, he went for 38 runs in 3.5 overs, 25 of which came off Lewis’ bat. Pakistan were abele to put on the respectable score due to Kamran. He had helped steady the team after a dramatic wobble. The moment he left, Pakistan struggled for runs the rest of the way. West Indies took control from that point on, picking up six wickets and conceding only 45 runs in the last eight overs. None of the Pakistan batsmen looked confident. They remained confused and under pressure. It was a poor showing from the Pakistan batsmen who caved in against a mediocre attack. Skipper Sarfraz and his men must realize that without putting big totals on board they should not hope for victories.