Rizwan backs Pakistan bowlers to bounce back in ODI series decider

Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan backed his bowling group to find form as his side’s three-match ODI series against the West Indies heads into a deciding game.

The West Indies romped to a series-levelling five-wicket victory over visitors Pakistan in the rain-hit second ODI here at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday (IST).

Batting first, Pakistan posted 171/7 in 37 overs on the back of valuable thirties from Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Talat in a stop-start innings with rain intervals in between. In response, the West Indies were set a target of 181 off 35 overs based on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, which they chased down with 10 balls to spare as player of the match Roston Chase and Justin Greaves put on an unbeaten 77-run stand off 72 balls.

Chase and Greaves took a particular liking to Pakistan’s part-timers of Saim Ayub and Salman Agha, with the pair each conceding 33 runs from their spell as the West Indies squared the series at 1-1 ahead of the final match at the same ground on Tuesday.

While Rizwan wouldn’t confirm the duo will retain their place in Pakistan’s side for the series decider, he backed them to perform well should they win selection for the eagerly-awaited contest.

“You could say our fifth bowler gave away too many runs (today), but in recent years, Salman Agha and Saim Ayub have both bowled well for us. Saim didn’t have the best day today, but he performed well in the T20Is. That’s just part of the game.

“Honestly, the weather forecast has been completely different from expectations, and it’s hard to read. We’re keeping our options open and will finalise the XI (for the series decider) after assessing the conditions,” Rizwan was quoted by the ICC.

The victory for the West Indies was their first over Pakistan in more than six years, with their most previous win against the Asian side prior to this match coming at the 2019 edition of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup when they cruised to a seven-wicket triumph in Nottingham.

“We wanted to come back from the loss, we wanted to get better and happy with the win today. He’s a class act, he’s doing some great things on the ODi format, growing from strength to strength. It was a bit tough to bat on, it was a lot slower but great to see the guys in the middle overs come in and great to see the guys get over the line. Sherfane gave us that impetus and then Chase and Greaves sealed the win for us,” Windies skipper Shai Hope said.

West Indies, who missed qualification for the 50-over World Cup in India in 2023 and are chasing a return to the major tournament in 2027.

Agencies