Sorry West Indies slump to defeat against Pakistan in first one-dayer

Needing just 193 to beat Pakistan in the first one-dayer, West Indies botched up the chase, albeit less spectacularly than on a recent occasion. It is now their seventh consecutive loss in one-day internationals.

Pakistan had a very good start, with Afridi blazing away. Salman Butt too was scoring freely at the other end, although the runrate was nowhere close to what Pakistan was achieving during the series in India. The pitch was quite difficult to bat on, as indicated by the fact that Pakistan scored a total of seven boundaries, six of them shared between the openers. The West Indian bowlers did quite well to pick up wickets regularly, preventing partnerships. Butt's 43 was the highest score and there were four others who passed 20 but didnt go on. Gayle triggered a middle-order collapse and Pakistan ended up being all out in the 45th over.

If West Indies thought getting 193 was easy, they hadnt reckoned with their own ineptitude and incompetence. Although Gayle started briskly, with three boundaries in an over from Iftikhar Rao, the rest of the batsmen did nothing to suggest that the chase was on. Their scoring rates tell a few stories: Marshall 3(16), Sarwan 9(30), Morton 13(48) and Chanderpaul 13(31). Naved-ul-Hasan, the star of the one-dayers in India, rattled the top order yet again with two wickets. Dwayne Bravo, who had rescinded on his earlier announcement of retirement in the hope that the team would do better, found out that nothing had changed. He made 27 and even though there was little hope when he was at the crease, he at least made an effort to ensure that West Indies batted for as long as possible and give themselves a chance of a dash at the end. Nothing of that sort happened as they were bundled out for a paltry 133 in the 46th over. Razzaq cleaned up the lower order to end up with four wickets and the man of the match award.

There're two ironies here. The first one is that two international teams made a total of 325 runs in 90 overs a day after the ICC's committee made recommendations to make one-day cricket more in favour of batsmen.

The second is that Inzamam was playing the one-dayer. He had been banned for a test for dissenting with the umpire's decision as Pakistan inched towards a series win at Bangalore. Isn't it odd that Inzamam, after being found guilty, was allowed to play a one-dayer? Doesn't the ban make more sense if it applies to one test or two one-dayers, whichever takes place first?