After 97 overs of play, Pakistan were clearly the better side on the day, and by some distance. Needing 39 off the last three then, with only two wickets in hand, West Indies managed to induce an almighty panic in the Pakistan ranks, which included the first boundary hit off Saeed Ajmal - three came in one cluster now; a fielder failing to pick the ball in the deep, costing them three runs; poor field settings in the last over with 15 to defend against the last pair; and then an easy run-out fluffed last ball to allow West Indies a tie. West Indies celebrated as if they had won, and Pakistan were crestfallen, which was about right.
Pakistan will think of the erroneous call of a short run that went against them when Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz were taking 52 off the last 4.2 overs. The two same men would now commit the final fatal mistakes. Before that, though, it was Sunil Narine who turned the momentum. Ajmal had been all over West Indies with the wickets of Lendl Simmons, who scored 75, and Dwayne Bravo in his eighth and ninth overs to turn 62 off 42 with six wickets in hand into 39 off 18 with just two wickets standing.
With nothing left to lose, Narine swung and he swung clean. The first ball went flat over long-off, inside-out no less. Ajmal fired the next ball in, and Narine drilled it to long-on, but Riaz there moved to his left as opposed to right where the ball was. The angry Ajmal slowed the next ball down, and drew a dot, but Narine came down the wicket to send him to the left of long-off. Ajmal came back with a quick offbreak to peg Narine's off stump back, and it was down to 24 off 12 for Holder and Roach.
Despite a flicked four past midwicket, Junaid did his job, giving away just eight in the 49th. The difference between Junaid and Riaz was the angle. Riaz bowled over the stumps but with the same field of mid-off up and long-on back. He began with two singles first up, but that mid-off remained a risky placement. As it turned out, Holder threaded - an incredible shot for a No. 11 - the third between mid-off and cover for four. More incredible acts were to follow.
Riaz changed his length, and drew a dot with a short ball to make it nine required off the last two, but bowled length on the penultimate ball. Holder smoked it clean over extra cover. Dwayne Bravo would have been proud of that shot. Now they were panicking big time. A big conference resulted, but the field didn't change. Riaz bowled short, which more or less took the field down the ground out of the equation. Holder swung, got a thick edge, which flied to third man who was aptly stationed fine. Junaid fielded well and sent in a decent throw on a decent bounce but just to the right of the keeper.
Holder was gone by yards had Akmal, a part-time wicketkeeper lest it be forgotten, collected it cleanly. He didn't. Holder made it. He over-ran so far West Indies couldn't even try a possible overthrow. The ball, though, had gone straight to straight midwicket.
West Indies might have come out of this level in the series, but their approach of backing themselves to keeping pace with astronomical asking rates in the final few overs against an attack that has no obvious weak link is ill-advised. Chasing 230 on a good batting track, West Indies lost early wickets - as has become their wont - and consolidated so slowly that the asking rate crossed six in the 26th over. After the early blows, Pakistan had enough overs of Ajmal towards to all but ensure the victory.
Pakistan followed the same pattern when they were asked to bat first. Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed didn't do much better than Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle, the last of whom now has the worst average among all openers who have played at least 10 innings in the last 12 months. It was followed by slow rebuilding with Misbah-ul-Haq, like Simmons, scoring 75.
At that time, the big difference seemed to be the West Indies part-timers at the death. Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard on paper should have been no match for Ajmal and Junaid and Riaz. It seemed to be going down that route until pressure burnt off that paper, and a side that used to be the most feared in tight situations now added one more panic attack to their recent history.
West Indies 82 for 3 (Samuels 28*, Simmons 14*) need another 148 to beat Pakistan 229 for 6 (Misbah 75, Akmal 40*)
Chasing 230, West Indies were in a fight after losing both their openers cheaply. Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels provided them with a recovery from 16 for 2, but Bravo fell for 17. The recovery meant slow strike rate, and halfway into the chase the asking rate had risen to 5.92. And Saeed Ajmal was yet to bowl.
Most worrying for West Indies will be Chris Gayle's form, whose played-on dismissal against yet another left-arm quick took his average in the last 12 months to the worst among all openers who have played at least 10 innings. By then, Johnson Charles had already been done in by the extra bounce from Mohammad Irfan.
Bravo took his eyes off while facing a Wahab Riaz bumper, and Mohammad Hafeez took a superb catch running in from square leg. By the end of 25 overs, Samuels and Lendl Simmons had added 32 in 8.5 overs.
Pakistan 229 for 6 (Misbah 75, Akmal 40*) v West Indies
Misbah-ul-Haq continued to anchor Pakistan with 75 typical runs, Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz provided a finish with a 52-run partnership off 4.2 overs, which took Pakistan to what has so far been a winning total in this series but on much more difficult tracks in Guyana. The pitch in St Lucia didn't provide much seam movements, was quicker, making it easier to time the ball, but the heavy outfield took a bit of sting away.
Pakistan will be disappointed all their batsmen except for Shahid Afridi reached double figures, but only Misbah and Akmal captalised on the starts. Five of their six wickets fell to pulls or hooks, often being late on the shot.
It took a sensational catch to wake West Indies up. Chris Gayle had already dropped a sitter, and Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed had got off to a cautious start of 39 when Shehzad hooked Jason Holder. Kemar Roach lodged himself under a catch at the edge of the long-leg boundary, about six inches in, took the catch, was about to be taken over by the momentum, lobbed the ball back in, stepped outside, came back in, and took the catch again. Fast bowlers are not supposed to do that.
That catch was so close it would have been a six had the rope had a skirting. Replays were not conclusive, but the rope didn't move. At the same score, Jamshed top-edged the local boy Darren Sammy when he went for an ill-advised pull. Roach took another, simpler, catch.
Misbah and Mohammad Hafeez then batted with tact, albeit a little slow. Misbah, though, outscored Hafeez in the 53-run unbeaten partnership for the third wicket. Along the way, he negotiated the nemesis Sunil Nrine well, hit a six over wide long-on, and survived a close lbw call, whose DRS review gave the on-field umpire the minutest of benefits of doubt. Pakistan were 82 in 25 overs at that time, and Misbah was 27.
As Sammy went through his overs inconspicuously, Dwayne Bravo brought himself on, and drew a top edge from Hafeez, who has now gifted his wicket in each innings of this tour. Debutant Haris Sohail provided Misbah valuable support in a 60-run stand, which featured 38 runs in the batting Powerplay. Misbah again pulled out of nowhere a six off the bowling of Narine. Along the way he became the highest run-getter in 2013.
When Misbah and Afridi fell in quick succession with more than four overs still to go, it seemed Pakistan would fall short of a competitive total. Akmal, though, had other ideas and began charging at Bravo to drive him continuously between mid-off and extra cover. The odd stroke of luck followed. In the 49th over, Riaz too had had enough of turning the strike to Akmal, and unleashed two sixes of his own, one a lovely inside-out drive from down on one knee, and the other a lesser controlled pull over midwicket. Those final few overs rearranged Bravo's figures to 7-0-50-2.
25 overs Pakistan 82 for 2 (Misbah 27*, Hafeez 13*) v West Indies
Fast bowlers are not supposed to do this. Kemar Roach lodged himself under a catch at the edge of the long-leg boundary, about six inches in, took the catch, was about to be taken over by the momentum, lobbed the ball back in, stepped outside, came back in, and took the catch. Ahmed Shehzad was the unfortunate batsman, who had just let go of inhibition in what had been a cautious start for Pakistan. Roach took another, simpler, catch at the same score, and Pakistan were forced to go back into rebuilding at 39 for 2.
Asked to bat first on a slowish pitch surrounded by a heavy outfield, the Pakistan openers were determined to not let Jason Holder and Roach make early breakthroughs. The only chance came when the score was 25, but Chris Gayle dropped a sitter at first slip. Shehzad couldn't make West Indies pay, thanks to that superb catch by Roach in the 12th over. That catch was so close it would have been a six had the rope had a skirting. Replays were not conclusive, but the rope didn't move. Soon, Nasir Jamshed top-edged the local boy Darren Sammy when he went for an ill-advised pull.
Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez then batted with tact, albeit a little slow. Misbah, though, outscored Hafeez in the 42-run unbeaten partnership for the third wicket. By the 25-over mark, they had negotiated four overs from Sunil Narine, who continued bowling round the stumps like he did in the previous match. Misbah even lofted Narine for a six over wide long-on in the 24th over.
Misbah had a scare just before the end of 25 overs. He seemed plumb to Sammy, was not given, and the decision was challenged with the DRS finally available in the series. After some five minutes, we finally got a replay with Hawkeye projection, which showed a large chunk of the ball hitting the leg stump but not large enough to overturn the decision.
Toss West Indies chose to bowl v Pakistan
Unchanged West Indies chose to bowl first in St Lucia, not paying much heed to the trend of sides batting first winning so far in the series. Pakistan, though, made two changes, finally brining in Junaid Khan and giving a debut to batsman Haris Sohail. Asad Ali and Asad Shafiq were the men to miss out.
Sohail had played only 20 List A matches without hitting a century.
West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Johnson Charles (wk), 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Lendl Simmons, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo (capt), 7 Kieron Pollard, 8 Darren Sammy, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Sunil Narine, 11 Jason Holder
Pakistan 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Umar Akmal (wk), 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Junaid Khan, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Mohammad Irfan
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