Jason Holder, Player of the Match:Told Romario when we were batting that we need four sixes. We are powerful players and knew that we could find the boundary. Just keep wickets in hand but still hit in our strong areas. Credit to Pakistan bowlers. They did really well. extremely proud of our men. Even from the Australia series, we could see plenty of positives. Bowlers supported each other, we got wickets upfront, in middle and towards the end. I love playing for West Indies, still think a lot of work needs to be done. One of my things is to leave WI cricket better than I found it. We’ve had a fair bit of criticism which is warranted. We haven’t done justice to our potential…we can be a lot better, consistency has definitely plagued us. For me, I’ll keep putting in my best effort.
Shai Hope, West Indies Captain: Been a tough couple of weeks for us…hats off to the bowlers…the bowlers set up the game for us, restricted them to a low total. We always try to get better, guys have put in a lot of hard work. Hopefully today is the turnaround we are looking for. (area of improvement:) I guess look for more singles in middle overs we tend to be a boundary hitting team, we are known for that, but rotation of strike is something we need to look at when the pitch is not conducive because they are going to do the same thing.
Salman Ali Agha, Pakistan Captain: In this game we batted well in powerplay but we couldn’t finish the game. (on bowlers) We bowled really well but there is always room to improve. I think we can bowl better at death. 130 was never enough but they fought really well and I am proud of (bowlers). The way spinners bowled in both games, we are ready for Asia Cup, and they will come into play in Dubai.
Phew, that was something special. Holder stepped up to the plate with the ball and made sure his effort didn’t go in vain. He fittingly hits the winning shot, and his 16-run cameo gets West Indies over the line, breaking the long losing streak.Hope, Chase, and Motie did just enough to keep them in the hunt. Pakistan spinners had them on a leash and controlled the game completely but the pacers didn’t hold their end of the bargain and leaked plenty at the end and West Indies had enough in the tank to eke out a memorable win that will surely lift their spirits and mood
Kannadachi : “T20 has been WI strong hold. When they lost 6 in a row, felt they have to punch above their weight. WI cricket needed that win !”
Kannadachi : “T20 has been WI strong hold. When they lost 6 in a row , felt they have to punch above their weight. WI cricket needed that win !”
If you sense this is getting repetitive, it’s impossible to talk about this game without coming back to Holder. With Hasan Nawaz breaking the shackles with three straight sixes, Holder’s removal of the batter suddenly deprived Pakistan of their only free-flowing slogger. Though Pakistan pride themselves on batting deep, their lower order – unlike West Indies – fell apart under that pressure. The bottom five managed 13 runs between them, none with a strike rate better than a run a ball, and West Indies suddenly found bowling very easy as the boundaries dried up and the dot balls began to pool. Those three Nawaz sixes were the last boundaries Pakistan scored in their innings, and as Holder showed, hitting boundaries right down to the very last ball can be the difference between victory and defeat.
