West Indies were jet lagged, please come tomorrow: PCB asks crowds to give visitors another chance after abject T20

Pakistan made short work of West Indies in the first international match played in Karachi in close to a decade. Chasing 204 to win, West Indies which was devoid of many of its big names imploded spectacularly and were shot out for paltry 60 runs after 13.4 overs. It was comprehensive performance from Pakistan with  Mohammad Nawaz,  Mohammad Amir,  Shoaib Malik taking 2 wickets apiece. Hussain Talat was the man of the match for his all-round performance scoring 41 of 37 balls and 1 wicket. Karachi last hosted an international game in 2009 when Sri Lanka played a Test match before an attack by gunmen on its team bus in Lahore, killing a dozen of people and injuring six of Lankan players, shut the door on international cricket in the country. 

PCB Chairman Najam Sethi took to Twitter to defend abject performance of the visitors and said that they were jet-lagged. He predicted that the next match will be more competitive and urged fans to turn up for the next match. 

Windies are not weak. They are jet lagged. We are strong and in form after the PSL. The next match should be more competitive. Come One, Come All tomorrow!

— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) April 1, 2018

After winning the toss, the visitors decided to field first. Pakistan got off to a breezy start with handy contribution from the top order. There was no stand-out performance but all clocked a strike-rate of over 100, which ensured the run-rate was always respectable. Apart from top scorer Talat, Fakhar Zaman (39 ) and captain Sarfraz Ahmed (38) played well. But it was Shoaib Malik's cameo of 37 of 14 balls which propelled Pakistan to 203. West Indies tried 7 bowlers but no one except Keemo Paul earned respect of batters. 

Chasing, West Indies was off to a disastrous start reduced to 33-6. Only 3 WI batters managed to reach double figures. Marlon Samuels top scored with 18. The Windies have come into the series without their key players like Chris Gayle, Jason Holder and Evin Lewis along with the T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite who have pulled out of the tournament. With back to back matches, West Indies has little time to lift their game. But unless there is a marked improvement in their performance, this much anticipated tournament will end up as a damp squib. 

With agency inputs