Nine years after hosting Sri Lanka, international cricket finally returned to National Stadium, Karachi, as it hosted the West Indies for a three-match T20I series. The matches, on three consecutive days, followed the final of the Pakistan Super League, with the country’s own domestic franchise T20 league once again paving the way for international starts to arrive in the country.
As far as on field matters go, it was a straightforward affair for Pakistan as the hosts put in three dominant performances to clean sweep a West Indies side that was without some of its major stars.
Pakistan’s dominance can be gauged by the fact that they equaled their best ever T20I score (203) in the first match, broke it in the second (205), with the third match being as comfortable a chase as you’ll find with Pakistan romping home with eight wickets and 19 deliveries to spare in a chase of 153.
Hussain Talat
The win consolidated Pakistan’s position at the top of the ICC T20 Team Rankings, and means that the team have won every single one of their seven T20I series under Sarfraz Ahmed.
The individual highlights ran across the squad, as far as Pakistan were concerned. Babar Azam score back to back half-centuries in the second and third matches, with a 97* being the highlight innings of the series. Azam deservedly bagged the Man of the Series award and has now perhaps made the opening slot his own.
Azam’s opening partner Fakhar Zaman had a couple of blitz in the series as well, which not only cemented his value to the batting side, it also made things easy for the rest of the batsmen.
Mohammed Amir and Shadab Khan each took five wickets in the series – the former in two matches – to further establish themselves as the leading bowlers for the team. The likes of Hasan Ali – who like Amir was rested in the final match –, Faheem Ashraf and Mohammed Nawaz also did a solid job with the ball, with West Indies not showing much resistance with the bat – except for an 18 ball 42 that Dinesh Ramdin scored in the third T20I, after a string of struggles with the bat in the PSL and the first two T20Is.
But the highlight of the series, as far as on-field matters are concerned, was the injection of the freshest lot of blood in the national side, with Hussain Talat putting in three impressive batting performances – including a half century – and taking three wickets, off just 12 deliveries that he bowled in the series. Spin Palace Casino
Asif Ali too showed glimpses of what he did for Islamabad United in the PSL, and played all three games, taking the team home in the final T20I chase. Shaheen Shah Afridi debuted in the final T20I as well, and got the feel of international cricket under his belt.
The level of optimism surrounding Pakistan cricket hasn’t been as high – at least as far as the future of limited-overs cricket is concerned – for over a decade. The most positive aspect of Pakistan’s rise is that they are still a young lot, led by a competent captain, who should only get better with the passage of time.
Of course, in addition to the on-field successes that Pakistan are mustering in the shortest format, the fact that it was a third international series in little over six months means that the gates for international cricket are now well and truly open, and the frequency of these matches would only increase, and so would the pedigree of sides that would tour Pakistan in the future.
This is what the PSL has given Pakistan cricket in three seasons alone. With at least half of the next PSL expected to be held in Pakistan, things would only get bigger and better for Pakistan team – and its cricket-starved fans.
