Babar Azam struck a half-century and spinner Imad Wasim grabbed five wickets in Pakistan’s nine-wicket win against the West Indies on Friday in the first Twenty20 international.
Azam was unbeaten on 55 from 37 balls as Pakistan chased 116-1 in 14.2 overs.
Wasim’s 5-14 helped get the T20 world champions out for 115, with only Dwayne Bravo (55) and No. 10 Jerome Taylor (21) reaching double figures.
“We’re using Imad Wasim as a strike bowler and he has done well so far,” said Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed, who won the toss and opted to field first. “We have focused a lot on fielding and positive body language, and I am happy that the players have responded well.”
Ahmed was made T20 captain after Pakistan’s unimpressive performance in the World T20 in India earlier this year and had started off well, beating England in his first match as captain earlier this month.
The West Indies top order stumbled to 48-8 before Bravo and Taylor combined for 66 runs and the highest ever ninth-wicket partnership in T20 internationals.
“We just didn’t come to the party today,” West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite said. “We’ll have a talk about handling spin.”
The West Indies lost half of their batting lineup for just 22 runs inside the first five overs as Wasim claimed three wickets in his first two overs with the new ball.
Another left-arm spinner, Mohmmad Nawaz, clean bowled Johnson Charles for seven runs and seamer Hasan Ali got an edge off debutant Nicholas Pooran.
Kieron Pollard and Bravo struggled to rebuild the innings before Wasim struck twice in his fourth over, when he had Pollard clean bowled for nine and Brathwaite top-edged for a duck.
Bravo and Taylor both got out in Sohail Tanvir’s last over of the innings.
Sharjeel Khan gave Pakistan a confident start with a breezy 22 before he was clean bowled trying to pull spinner Samuel Badree across the line.
However, Badree and fellow spinner Sunil Narine were ineffective with the ball dampened by dew at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium as Azam and Khalid Latif (34 not out) shared an unbroken second-wicket stand of 88 to give Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
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