Babar Azam stroked yet another century against the West Indies and Hasan Ali claimed five wickets as Pakistan won the second one-day international by 74 runs at the National Stadium in Guyana on Sunday.
Put in by West Indies captain Jason Holder, Pakistan totaled 282-5 and then dismissed the hosts for 208 off 44.5 overs, despite a battling knock from Holder, who was last out to Ali for a top score of 68.
Reinstated in his favorite No. 3 spot, Azam held a faltering innings together and then accelerated toward an unbeaten 125, his fifth century in one-day internationals and a fourth in five innings against the West Indies.
Photo: AFP
His classy knock occupied 132 deliveries, and was embellished with three sixes and seven fours.
“I just wanted to bat through to the end of the innings and I was able to achieve that to help us put up a good total,” Azam said. “It doesn’t matter where I bat, I just want to make a contribution for the team.”
Azam received critical support from Imad Wasim, the all-rounder finishing unbeaten on 43 in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 99 which released the shackles of the previously disciplined bowling on a pitch lacking the pace and bounce from the first match — which the hosts won by four wickets.
On a good batting pitch the hosts also lost their discipline in the reply, crashing to 75-6 with a series of poor shots, while the Pakistan bowlers showed much greater intent than in the first game.
“Our batting at the top again let us down because I felt, on this pitch, we definitely had a chance to get to 283,” Holder said at the end of the match. “Maybe it would have been different with some more runs at the top, but now we have to focus on winning on Tuesday [in the third and final match].”
Holder was given support by Ashley Nurse, who belted a one-day best 44 in dominating a 58-run seventh-wicket stand with his captain, but the accurate Ali, who finished with 5-38 off 8.5 overs, eliminated any outside chance the West Indies had of stealing a series-clinching victory.
He trapped Nurse leg before wicket and then claimed the final two wickets in the 45th over, both to catches by Azam at mid-off.
The teams meet in the decider today with the West Indies seeking their first one-day series win over Pakistan for 26 years.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with