Friday, November 14, 2008

Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi

Pakistan Won a battle out of the shell in the 2nd ODI against West Indies.

Unlike the first one-dayer, which was full of manic fireworks, the second one was more of a slow-burning scrap. Like the first one-dayer, Pakistan were second-best at the halfway stage but came out on top in a tight finish, this win sealing the series. Like in the first one-dayer, there was a dogged century from a senior West Indies batsman - Shivnarine Chanderpaul this time - but there wasn't enough support for him from the rest.

Sohail Tanvir's menacing opening spell helped Pakistan fight back after a disciplined West Indies bowling had kept them down to a less-than-average total. He was the star performer but each member of the Pakistan attack played his part: Umar Gul hounded the batsmen with a mix of bouncers and yorkers, Iftikhar Anjum kept probing away just outside off stump and was unlucky to not get more than one wicket, Shahid Afridi provided the crucial breakthrough by removing Ramnaresh Sarwan, and Saeed Ajmal confounded West Indies with his doosras.

Pakistan 232 (Misbah 52, Taylor 3-38, Powell 3-50) beat West Indies 208 (Chanderpaul 107*, Gul 3-44 ) by 24 runs

Pakistan has won the 3 Match ODI series.

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