West Indies vs. Pakistan 3rd ODI: Five talking points

The first match of this five-match series ended in a humiliating defeat for the West Indies, suggesting that this might turn out to be an uninteresting, one-sided affair, but the series remains level after the first three games and it can hardly get more competitive than a tied match.

The first two matches saw the side batting second losing out while chasing moderate totals but West Indies made a brave and determined effort last night and found that fortune favoured them.

Jason Holder and Kemar Roach peppered the Pakistan batsman with short bowling and were rewarded with early wickets. Pakistan put up a familiar-looking 229 on the board batting first with the help of Misbah-ul-Haq‘s knock of 75 runs.

Umar Akmal’s quickfire 40 of 31 balls played a significant part as well. The chase was still going to be a tricky task given that the West Indian batsmen had been short of runs.

West Indies had a terrible start to the chase as Jackson Charles and Chris Gayle failed to give them the explosive start that was expected of them. Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels steadied the ship and it seemed that Bravo would play another significant innings before Wahab Riaz exacted a false shot out of him.

Lendl Simmons and Samuels blocked out all danger so much so that the asking rate climbed over six in the 26th over. Holder played a crucial knock of 19 runs as Pakistan pressed the panic button in a comedy of errors as the match ended in a tie.

Here are five talking points that were generated from the game: