The Oval crowd was in favour of Pakistan over West Indies, but it was the boys from the Caribbean who steal the show on the field. It was WI who won the toss & put Pakistan to bat first, seemed like they were quite clear of the conditions. WI bowling go off to a bumper start as Roach demolished the Pakistani Top order leaving them at 15 for 3 in 7 overs & from the other end Rampaul was teasing Pakistani batsmen not allowing them to score. After those 3 quickies, Pakistan balanced themselves with a partnership between NasirJamshed& captain Misbah-ul-Haq but as Jamshed reached his fifty he was taken down by Rampaul at long off, the guy who came to WI rescue was none other than the sensation Sunil Narine who knocked Jamshed & sparked another collapse in the middle order with 2 more precious wickets of Malik &Akmal which led Pakistani’s to 110 for 6 in 32 overs. Misbah was still in the intention of rescuing Pakistan but none of their remaining batsmen stayed on the crease with unfortunate dismissal of WahabRiaz, rash shots and run outs from the lower order left Misbah from getting his maiden hundred. Either side of those, Nasir Jamshed and Misbah, the only two batsmen into double figures, repaired a lot of the early damage with a fourth-wicket stand of 90. Kemar Roach & SunilNarine took 3 wickets each as Pakistan struggled to a low total of 170 all thanks to their captain for a wonderful knock of 96 not out leading by example to other players. Now it was all easy for the West Indies to score 171 in 50 overs but god start to test WI patience as it rained in London but not for long as it led to a delay of only 20 minutes and no reduction in overs take place.
Defending a low total of 170 in the very first game Pakistan only hope was there bowling which can save them. The Pakistani pace duo of WahabRiaz and Mohammad Irfanbowled a very tight length making a total of 170 seem like 270, WI openers Gayle & Charles look a bit uncomfortable at the start. Finally Pakistan’s tight bowling paid off, they got their first wicket in the form of Johnson Charles & quickly Irfan struck for the 2nd time in successive overs getting Darren Bravo & leaving WI to 17/2 in 5 overs. Marlon Samuels then joined Chris Gayle and build a partnership to keep the match hanging in balance. West Indies Scoreboard was ticking at a solid pace when a Dusra from Ajmal took Gayle’s middle stumpand ended their partnership of 63 off 76 balls. RamnareshSarwan, who then came to the crease, was trapped by Riaz short ball as Sarwan edged the ball to the wicket-keeper. This led to 2 wickets in a short span of mere 7 balls & Pakistan was right back in the game. Now Kieron Pollard arrives to the crease, as Pollard looks a bit comfortable at the crease a non-sense from Samuels cost him his wicket & now Pakistan were dominating the game, one more wicket at that time would have thrown WI out of the competition. Then Dwayne Bravo, the WI captain arrives at the crease who has done it so many times for WI in these situations but the question was Can he do it this time round??? Bravo joins Pollard at the crease&stitched a solid partnership to bring back WI back into the game but 43 runs later Pollard perished edging on to the Wicket-Keeper off WahabRiaz. The other WK Ramdin arrives at the crease but with the pressure mounting it was a tough job for Ramdin& then in just 6 runs time it was Dwayne Bravo who was taken by Ajmal’s beauty. Bravo asked for a referral but it was not his day as on field umpire call stood & he was given out leaving WI to their own fate. This led to the arriving of Sunil Narine who hits a four off the first ball leaving WI with 24 runs to win from 78 balls. Ramdin&Narine as they were cruising towards victory a little tickle in the tale was stiil there as Narine played an irresponsible shot & gave his wicket off Irfan edging it to the Wicket Keeper giving Pakistan a chance to come back into the game with WI still to get 8 runs to win. Now Pakistan have a chance to clear out WI batting with the arrival of Kemar Roach. Roach just took one over after his arrival to hit the winning shot as WI won by 2 wickets with 56 balls to spare.
Pics from the match :
With this loss, WI has beaten Pakistan for the first time in The ICC Champions Trophy. Pakistan next take on an injured South Africa on June 10 while West Indies go up against a confident Indian side the following day.
What a match to watch totally worth it, it’s just the 2nd match of the tournament & we are really seeing some cool finishes. A lot to see in the coming tournament as Australia takes on England tomorrow in a Group-A clash.
Pakistan170 all out in 48 overs (Misbah 96*,Irfan 3/32) were not enough to beat WI172/8 in 40.4 overs ( Gayle 39, Roach 3/28)as WI beat Pakistan by 2 wickets.
Man of the Match: Kemar Roach for his stupendous bowling figures of 3/28 in 10.0 overs & a little hustle with the bat to help WI win.