Pak vs. WI 3rd ODI | Five Talking Points

Pakistan completed yet another whitewash over West Indies on Wednesday at Abu Dhabi as they emerged victorious by 136 runs in the final ODI of the series.  West Indies collapsed for a paltry total of 172 runs in reply to Pakistan’s 306/8.

Also Read: Pak vs. WI 3rd ODI | Preview: Pakistan Aiming For the Full Bounty Again

Solid Opening Partnership
 

Sharjeel Khan and skipper Azhar Ali got Pakistan off to a flying start and laid the foundation for a big total. Both the openers were on song as they kept dispatching the Caribbean bowlers for boundaries at will. Sharjeel looked set for a big innings but was unfortunately out caught by Alzarri Joseph trying to go for a big one off Suleimann Benn.


Twin Centuries with a Touch of class
 

The West Indies bowlers did not get any respite despite the dismissal of the dangerous Sharjeel Khan as Babar Azam and Azhar Ali went on to stitch together a classy partnership of 147 runs. In the process, both batsmen notched up their centuries;
coincidentally the third ODI century for both the batsmen! Babar Azam continued his dream run as he became the second youngest Pakistani and the 8th batsman overall to score three consecutive ODI centuries. Eventually, both Ali and Azam were dismissed for 101 and 117 respectively.


Regular Fall of Pakistani wickets in the death overs
 

Pakistan was once 202/1 in 33 overs and looked all set for a record total with 9 wickets remaining. But, West Indies claimed regular wickets towards the end that hindered the flow of runs for Pakistan. All of Shoaib Malik (5), Mohammad Rizwan (4),Imad  Wasim (4) and Mohammad Nawaz (4) were dismissed cheaply which did not help Pakistan’s quest for a massive total.
Only Sarfraz Ahmed, who remained unbeaten on 24, scored the crucial runs and got them past the total of 300 somehow. Pakistan thus finished on 308/6 in their 50 overs.


A Steady Opening Partnership for West Indies
 

West Indies, for the first time in this series, had a steady opening partnership if not big. Evin Lewis (22) and Kraigg Brathwaite (32) stitched together a partnership of 45 runs at a decent run-rate of 5 runs per over.


Lewis and Brathwaite give Windies a good start

The replacement of Johnson Charles with Evin Lewis worked partially as the former never provided reliability to West Indies at the top of the order.

A Familiar Caribbean Collapse
 

West Indies again didn’t show any signs of improvement and collapsed in the same manner as in the previous two ODIs.Darren Bravo (17), Marlon Samuels (13) and Kieron Pollard (11) never got going as West Indies lost half of their side for 117 runs. Only Denesh Ramdin (37) and Jason Holder (26) provided some sort of resistance. However, that went in vain as the tail collapsed pretty quickly and West Indies were bowled out for 172  in 44 overs.