Disciplined Pakistan restrict West Indies to 85 runs in rain-shortened encounter

A disciplined Pakistan bowling attack came out firing on all cylinders in the rain-shortened first Twenty20 International (T20I) against the explosive West Indies line-up, restricting the opposition to just 85 runs for the loss of five wickets in the nine-over innings. 

At the start of the match, Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to field first but both teams had to wait as heavy rain prevented the start of play. 

After a big wait, the rain finally gave way for a match reduced to just nine overs each. 

West Indies were off to a breezy start before all-rounder Mohammad Wasim’s bouncer found the back of the neck of opener Lindl Simmons (nine off seven) and the batsman had to return back retired hurt. 

Pacer Hasan Ali then started his spell with a wonderful slower ball that was chipped by opener Evin Lewis (six off five) straight into the hands of fielder Shaheen Shah. 

Batsman Nicholas Pooran (13 off 11) fell next as he tried to attempt a wild slog off the bowling of veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez only to be caught by fielder Shadab Khan. 

Leg-spinner Usman Qadir then removed explosive all-rounder Andre Russell (seven off six), caught behind by wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan. 

Veteran batsman Chris Gayle (seven off seven) tried to clear the boundary off debutant Mohammad Wasim, only to find fielder Hasan Ali as Pakistan piled on the pressure in the rain-shortened encounter. 

Pacer Hasan Ali produced another wonderful slower delivery next to get rid of batsman Shimron Hetmyer (five off five), caught by wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan. 

Kieron Pollard remained unbeaten in the end after scoring 22 runs off just nine balls to propel his side to 85 runs for the loss of five wickets. 

Hasan Ali was the most successful bowler for his side, picking up two wickets.