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Match Report:

Scorecard

Teenage leggie shines again for Pakistan

Shadab Khan Pakistan's match-winner again as West Indies fall three runs short in Trinidad

Shadab Khan gave another match-winning bowling performance and Hasan Ali held his nerve for Pakistan to sneak a three-run victory over the West Indies in the second T20 International.

Set a relatively modest target of 133 to level the series following a six-wicket defeat in the opening match in Barbados, the hosts were restricted to 8-129 to suffer their fifth consecutive T20 loss to the visitors.

Pakistan now hold an unbeatable 2-0 lead ahead of the final two matches at the weekend back at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad.

In the wake of an impressive senior international debut at Kensington Oval where he took 3-7 from four overs, Shadab snared 4-14 with his mesmerising mixture of leg-breaks and googlies to stymie the West Indies quest.

He now boasts an incredible career bowling average of 3 and an economy rate of 2.63.

His most important strike came on the last delivery of his four-over allotment when he had Marlon Samuels caught at the wicket for a top score of 44.

Samuels’ imperious strokeplay, reminiscent of his two match-winning performances in World T20 finals, looked to be taking the home side to the target before he was undone by the confident 18-year-old.

"Getting Samuels was important for us to have a chance of winning," said Shadab after collecting his second straight Man of the Match award.

"This pitch had more bounce and encouragement than in Barbados so I am really looking forward to the final two matches."

Windies opener Evin Lewis had earlier been run out in incredible fashion after an accidental collision with Shadab meant no part of the batsman was grounded despite his entire body being behind the crease line.

Image Id: B8EF419148E44A4FB961FD047B206419 Image Caption: Lewis is run out after a collision with Shadab

The dismissal of Samuels tilted the match in favour of Pakistan although West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite, who had earlier taken three wickets on a sultry afternoon, battled to keep his team on course in partnership with fellow allrounder Jason Holder.

But it came down to fast-medium bowler Ali retaining his focus and concentration in the final over after being smashed for boundaries by Sunil Narine off the first two deliveries.

West Indies needed just six more runs to complete the victory with four balls left but the bowler’s excellent accuracy denied both Narine and Holder, who could only manage a single off the last ball when a boundary was needed to tie the scores.

Put in to bat after Brathwaite won the toss, Pakistan struggled to gain any sort of batting momentum against the twin spin threat of Narine (3-22) and Samuel Badree (2-14).

Pakistan were indebted to the ninth-wicket pair of Wahab Riaz and Shadab as they put on 36 quickfire runs from the final four overs to bring a measure of respectability to the total after they were put in to bat on a dry, turgid surface.

They were in trouble from the very first over when Kamran Akmal was bowled by Badree without a run on the board.

From that point on they laboured despite a 41-run stand for the second wicket between Babar Azam and opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad.

"This was a match we should have won," said an obviously disappointed Brathwaite.

"It’s easy to second-guess a lot of things in the course of play but we were in control for long periods – in the field and with the bat – but just didn’t finish off the job."