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West Indies set 287 from 49 overs after Babar Azam’s maiden ODI hundred

Babar Azam recorded his first ever ODI hundred for Pakistan playing against West Indies in the first ODI in the three-match series to help his team reach a commanding total of runs.

Babar Azam made his 1st ever ODI © Getty Images
Babar Azam secured his 1st ever ODI hundred © Getty Images

Pakistan started off poorly losing their skipper Azhar Ali for a first-ball duck. Pakistan who were high on confidence after winning the Twenty20 International (T20I) series by a resounding manner, wanted to continue the momentum heading into the first of the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series at Sharjah.  Pakistan started off miserably  but were rallied by Sharjeel Khan and Babar Azam belligerence scores post which they managed to post a respectable total of 284 for 9. Both batsmen showcased two varied batting styles and proved everything works well and are equally crucial. Azam played anchorman like innings achieving his first ever ODI hundred. Pakistan made good use of the slowness of the track and went on heavy on the bowlers. Only thing good for the West Indies was that their spinners Sulieman Benn and Sunil Narine controlled the flow of runs. Thanks to a technical error, meant West Indies were now given a revised target of 287 runs from 49 overs to win. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD, Pakistan vs West Indies, 1st ODI

Everything started just right for the West Indies team as Shanon Gabriel struck in the very first ball of the innings. Azhar who was already under pressure to make crucial runs, gave his wicket away playing a poor shot. Azhar tried to poke the ball away and handed his wicket away to wicketkeeper. Coming in at No.3 was Babar Azam who is trying to make his place in the side. But it was all about the Sharjeel show. This summer has been quite fruitful for Sharjeel when it comes to making runs. Sharjeel showed glimpses against Ireland and England, almost single highhandedly winning Pakistan matches.

Sharjeel always like a bit off pace on the ball and with the West Indies bowlers looking to pick up wickets it only added to his advantage. Sharjeel knocked off 54 from 43 balls which included 6 boundary’s and 3 massive sixes. Sharjeel achieved his half-century with a six off Sunil Narine towards long-on in just 42 balls. Sharjeel went for a big shot  very next ball trying to go for slog sweep , only managing to top-edge the ball and hand Benn a simple catch at third-man. Sharjeel and Babar added 8-runs for the second wicket.

Babar kept on holding one end of the pitch with the experienced Shoaib Malik coming into bat at No.4. Malik’s stay in the middle was every small. Malik played 12 painstaking balls for his 6 runs. Malik handed Narine his first wicket of the match. Malik trying to play a forward defensive shot managed to edge the ball and hand a flying Benn’s a superb catch. Next man in was Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, who has been in red-hot form.

Babar who was quite all this while started to show his brilliance in yielding the bat. Babar who was playing a silent role up until now opened but a bit and started picking up quick singles with Sarfraz out in the middle to compliment him. Babar got to his fifty in just 74-balls which included 3 boundaries.  This was Babar’s sixth ODI half-century with no century against his name, this became the perfect motivation for him.

After he completed his half-century Babar opened up like on he can, smacking the likes of Carlos Brathwaite, Narine and Kieron Polland. Babar with a single towards long-off achieved his child hood dream of scoring a ton for his country in ODI’s. Babar’s hundred came in 122-ball  post which he hit 2-sixes and a single boundary to fall for 120 runs. Babar’s brilliance was outdone by Pollard who hung on to a superb leaping and juggling catch.

Pollard struck his hand out and managed to push the ball back inside the playing area after which he again caught hold off it to pick a crucial wicket of Babar. This also handed Brathwaite his first wicket. Meanwhile Pakistan kept on losing wickets in intervals, Sarfraz who contributed 35 runs to the 99 run stand between himself and Babar for the 4th wicket. Sarfraz was looking in good form and used his feet against the spinners to good use. Sarfraz ended up making 35 off 45 balls with most runs coming in singles. Sarfraz held out to Jason Holder where his nibble footwork gave his wicket away. Wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin caught a simple caught behind off Sarfraz.

Soon after Sarfraz’s wicket, Babar went and now Pakistan had two new players out in the middle. Star from the T20I series Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz were handed over the responsibility to guide their team to a massive. Imad played some
glorious four’s to guide himself to a 19-ball 21, with Nawaz making 5 from 5 balls. This is when the light struck in literally. Few of the floodlight went off and the ground was partially engulfed in darkness asImad and Nawaz remained not-out on 21 and 5 respectively.

Post the start of play again, Imad gave his wicket away to Carlos for a 24-ball 24. Imad misses a fuller ball in an attempt to go over the top. New man Wahab Riaz gave his wicket way to a freaky  run towards the leg-side. Nawaz did provide a bit of firework before he gave his wicket for the sake of the team making crucial 19-runs.

The floodlights remained off for a good hour or so which meant West Indies were given a revised total of 287 runs to win from 49-overs. For West Indies Carlos was the star bowler picking up wickets at the very end of the innings. Carlos’s figures read 3 for 54 in his quota of 10 overs.

West Indies after winning the toss, elected to bowl first and make full use of the dew that falls later in the day. With Pakistan bowlers being more superior than the visitors it becomes important for West Indies to take any advantage that they can get. West Indies call upon Kraigg Brathwaite who will be making his ODI debut for the team. While Pakistan include Wahab Riaz in place of Umar Gul who played their last ODI against England a month back.

Brief scores:

Pakistan: 284 for 9 (Babar Azam 120 , Sharjeel Khan 54  ; Carlos Brathwaite 3 for 54) vs West Indies

(Vishal Mehra is a journalist with CricketCountry, who enjoys his weekly dose of anime, monthly viewing of sitcoms, daily playing of cricket once every few hours moon, and currently venturing into table-tennis . His twitter handle is @capturethecatch )

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