London: West Indies eked out a two-wicket win over Pakistan in a low-scoring Group B encounter to start their Champions Trophy campaign on a perfect note at the Kennington Oval, here on Friday.
Opting to ball, paceman Kemar Roach and spinner Sunil Narine shared six wickets between them to help West Indies bowl out Pakistan for a paltry 170 in 48 overs. Pakistan owed their total to skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, who laboured his way to an unbeaten 96 and shared a 91-run stand with opener Nasir Jamshed (50) for the fourth wicket.
While chasing, West Indies made a heavy weather of the target before scampering home with two wickets in hand in 40.4 overs.
West Indies lost two wickets — Johnson Charles and Darren Bravo — early during their paltry chase of 171. While Charles hooked a Mohammad Irfan (3/32) delivery straight to the hands of Wahab Riaz at fine-leg, Bravo edged one to Kamran Akmal behind the stumps off the same bowler an over later. Thereafter, Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels played cautiously to get West Indies’ chase back on track with a 77-ball 63-run third wicket stand.
Both Gayle and Samuels looked uncomfortable against off-spinner Saeed Ajmal (2/38). The bowler finally had the last laugh when he cleaned up Gayle with a doosra to drew curtains on the partnership.
New Man in Ramnaresh Sarwan was did in by a terrific bouncer from Riaz (2/42) in the next over.
Samuels then gave away his wicket after doing all the hardwork. He was stumped by Akmal off a Mohammad Hafeez delivery.
But Kieron Pollard (30) and Dwayne Bravo (19) played sensibly from there on, adding 43 runs for the sixth wicket to bring West Indies closer.
But just when it seemed Pollard and Dwayne Bravo would guide West Indies home, the duo departed in successive overs to give Pakistan a ray of hope.
After scoring 11 off eight balls, Narine gave a simple catch to Akmal off Irfan to sent some shivers in the West Indies’ camp with the Caribbeans still needing six to win. But it was not to be as Denesh Ramdin (11 not out) and Roach (5 not out) eventually guided West Indies home. (PTI)
SCOREBOARD
Pakistan
Farhat c D Bravo b Roach 2
Jamshed c Rampaul b Narine 50
Hafeez b Roach 4
Shafiq c Rampaul b Roach 0
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 96
S Malik c D Bravo b Narine 0
K Akmal c Ramdin b Narine 2
W Riaz run out 6
S Ajmal run out 2
Junaid c Gayle b D Bravo 0
Md Irfan c D Bravo b Rampaul 2
Total (all out in 48 overs) 170
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-14, 3-15, 4-105, 5-106, 6-110, 7-128, 8-136, 9-138, 10-170.
Bowling: Kemar Roach 10-4-28-3, Ravi Rampaul 10-0-39-1, Dwayne Bravo 9-0-29-1, Marlon Samuels 5-0-17-0, Sunil Narine 10-1-34-3, Kieron Pollard 4-0-22-0.
West Indies:
Gayle b Ajmal 39
J Charles c Riaz b Irfan 9 Darren Bravo c Akmal b Irfan 0
M Samuels st Akmal b Hafeez 30 Sarwan c Akmal b Riaz 1
Pollard c Akmal b Riaz 30
Dwayne Bravo lbw b Ajmal 19
Ramdin not out 11
Narine c Akmal b Irfan 11
Kemar Roach not out 5
Total: (8 wkts in 40.4 overs) 172 Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-15, 3-78, 4-81, 5-94, 6-137, 7-143, 8-165
Bowling: Irfan 9-0-32-3, Khan 7.4-0-36-0, Ajmal 10-1-38-2, Riaz 10-1-42-2, Hafeez 4-0-14-1.