Pakistan vs West Indies, 1st T20I: Shadab Khan’s 3-for stops hosts at 111

For the hosts, their out-of-form skipper Carlos Brathwaite blasted off towards the ending stage of the first innings assaulting the Pakistan pacers.

Shadab Khan (R) is congratulated by his skipper Sarfraz Ahmed © AFP

Riding on debutant Shadab Hasan’s phenomenal figures of 3 for 7, Pakistan reduced West Indies to 111 for 8 in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. Leg spinner Shadab got important wickets of Chadwick Walton (18), Lendl Simmons (1) and Sunil Narine (1) in the early overs to put the hosts in a precarious situation right from the start. Apart from Shadab, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz and Sohail Tanvir got 1 wicket each. For the hosts, their out-of-form skipper Carlos Brathwaite blasted off towards the ending stage of the first innings assaulting the Pakistan pacers. Brathwaite remained unbeaten on 34 off 27 deliveries. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD, West Indies vs Pakistan, 1st T20I

West Indies got off to a disastrous start as they lost their opener Evin Lewis in the third over. Lweis (10) tried to sneak in for a second run, but some great fielding from Ahmed Shehzad from the deep ended Lewis’ innings. West Indies lost their first wicket with just 13 runs on the board. But Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed persisted with spinners from both ends and soon deployed debutant Shadab. Shadab struck the first time on his second delivery of his very first over in international cricket. He trapped Walton with the wrong one.

Before the hosts could understand Shadab and his bowling variations, he struck again getting the wicket of Simmons cleaning up his woodwork. In the first over he bowled, Shadab conceded just a single and got 2 important wickets. And again on the second delivery of his second over, he got the wicket of Narine who tried going for a huge six over long-on. Imad, Hasan, Riaz and Tanvir too chipped in with one wicket each to contribute to their teams cause.

Brathwaite provided some respite for the hosts with some monstrous shots towards the ending stage of the innings to ensure his team crossing the 100 runs mark which looked distant at one point.