Pakistan thrash Windies by 7 wkts to pocket T20I series

Port of Spain, April 3 (Cricketnmore) Pakistan bounced back from a defeat in the third Twenty20 International to complete a seven-wicket win over the West Indies in the fourth game to take the series 3-1.

The series win over the World champions on Sunday lifted Pakistan from No. 6 in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I team rankings to No. 4, and sent the Caribbean side down to the sixth position.

New Zealand tops the charts with 127 ratings points, followed by India (124) and South Africa (117), while England is between Pakistan and the West Indies at No.5.

Pakistan medium pacer Hasan Ali bowled a tight spell and got good support from the rest of the attack to restrict the West Indies to 124/8, after the visitors won the toss and elected to field at the Queen's Park Oval.

In reply, opener Ahmed Shehzad found form with a fifty as the visiting side wrapped up the chase with an over to spare, according to an ICC report.

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Shehzad's 45-ball 53 included six fours and one six. He put on 70 for the second wicket with Babar Azam (38), and only fell to the pace of Kesrick Williams with victory in sight.

Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed, the skipper, completed the formalities, reaching 127/3 with little fuss.

Earlier, the hosts began at a fair click thanks to the efforts of Chadwick Walton (40 in 31 balls). However, the batsmen soon struggled in the face of excellent seam bowling as only three of them could cross the double-figure mark.

Hasan, who returned with figures of 2/12, and leg-spinner Shadab Khan (2/16) had put the brakes on the scoring.

The series win is Pakistan's second in a row against the World T20 champions, and will give them a confidence boost ahead of the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series starting in Guyana on Friday.

Brief Scores: West Indies 124/8 (Chadwick Walton 40, Carlos Brathwaite 37 not out, Marlon Samuels 22, Hasan Ali 2-12, Shadab 2-16) lose to Pakistan 127/3 (Ahmed Shehzad 53, Babar Azam 38, Kamran Akmal 20, Kesrick Williams 2-16) by 7 wickets.