Twitter Reactions: Cricket returns to Pakistan in style, hosts crush Windies in first T20I

Pakistan beat Windies by 143 runs.

By Nikhil Anand

View : 10.8K

2 Min Read

Mohammad Amir
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(Photo Source: Getty Images)

For cricket to resurface on the Pakistani soil, one thing was certain. They needed more than just one venue to host international cricket again. The opportunity beckoned when Windies arrived in Pakistan for a short T20I series with Karachi being the shortlisted venue. The stage was all set at the iconic National Stadium in Karachi for an international game after a gap of 9 years.

And the local fans could not have asked for anything better with the hosts notching up a thumping win in the game. Albeit the Windies side was a depleted one and looked largely a second string unit, the credit of playing well cannot be taken away from the Men in Green. Pakistan, in the match, showed thorough dominance across the three departments to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Coming to the game, Windies won the toss and opted to bowl first. The track looked like a batting track with nothing much changing through the course of the game. In walked Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam to open the innings for Pakistan as Samuel Badree shared the new ball with Keemo Paul. While Azam (17) could not score big, Zaman looked crisp for his 24-ball 39.

Hussain Talat made the most out of the opportunity he got at the number three slot. He anchored the innings with his 37-ball 41. Veteran players, Sarfraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik, also rose to the occasion to provide crucial contributions in the middle order. Skipper Sarfraz scored a brisk 38 off just 22 deliveries, and Malik came like a storm for the Windies. He scored an unbeaten 37 off 14 deliveries with 4 fours and a couple of sixes to give impetus to the Pakistani innings. Pakistan finished with 203/5 in their stipulated 20 overs.

In the run chase, the Windies innings could never really kick off ever since Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Amir struck in their respective first overs in the game. The wickets kept tumbling and Windies bundled out with a score of 60/9 in 13.4 overs. This is the lowest score for Windies in the T20Is. Veerasammy Permaul did not come out to bat and that indicated a 143 run win for the hosts. Nawaz, Amir, and Malik scalped two wickets each. The fans went berserk about the Pakistani win and the cricketing action returning to the Pakistani soil.

Here is how the fans reacted to the Pakistan win:

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