Pak vs WI: Pakistan win rain-affected T20 series 1-0 against West Indies

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Jason Holder (R) of the West Indies congratulate Shareen Afridi (L) of Pakistan for winning the 2nd T20I match between the West Indies and Pakistan at Guyana National Stadium in Providence, Guyana, on July 31, 2021. — Photo by Randy Brooks/AFP
Jason Holder (R) of the West Indies congratulate Shareen Afridi (L) of Pakistan for winning the 2nd T20I match between the West Indies and Pakistan at Guyana National Stadium in Providence, Guyana, on July 31, 2021. — Photo by Randy Brooks/AFP   

Pakistan has won a rain-affected T20 series against West Indies, after the fourth and final match, too, was abandoned on Tuesday due to rain, at Guyana's Providence Stadium.

The covers were put on at the end of 3 overs, at 11:15am local time, with West Indies at 30-0. It continued to rain past noon. The pitch was then inspected at 1:25pm. 

Play was to resume at 2pm, with a revised schedule. Each side was to have the use of nine overs, with a maximum of two overs per bowler and a powerplay of three overs.

However, the rain refused to let up, forcing play to be abandoned.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and put West Indies in to bat. 

The Babar-Azam led Men in Green were leading the series 1-0 after the first match in Barbados six days earlier and the third fixture at Providence on Sunday were ruined by rain. In the lone encounter to be decided on the field of play, the tourists won by seven runs in the second match on Saturday.

Azam, following the toss, said that the weather forecast, which suggests rain will impact today's game as well, means that it would be better to chase a target.

Pakistan and the West Indies were both looking forward to the T20I series, as each side hoped they would be able to test their strengths and work on their weaknesses before the ICC Men's T20 World Cup begins in the UAE in October.

For the visitors, Babar Azam and Rizwan have performed consistently over the past few months.

The decision to include Sohaib Maqsood however backfired, Azam Khan failed to impress (and missed out a couple of matches due to injury) while Mohammad Hafeez was yet to make a dent with the bat too.

Sharjeel Khan also did not strike gold for Pakistan and did not find his destructive form that once made him the most sought-after opening batsman in Pakistan.

West Indies had managed to restrict Pakistan to 157 runs in the first T20I, however, the hosts' batting line-up failed to impress, failing in their run-chase.

Except for Pooran, the rest of the West Indies squad failed to live up to expectations and remained on the defensive foot more than on the offensive.

Squads

West Indies: 1 Andre Fletcher 2 Chris Gayle 3 Shimron Hetmyer 4 Nicholas Pooran (wk) 5 Andre Russell 6 Kieron Pollard (capt) 7 Jason Holder 8 Romario Shepherd 9 Dwayne Bravo 10 Haydn Walsh 11 Akeal Hosein

Pakistan: 1 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 2 Sharjeel Khan 3 Babar Azam (capt) 4 Fakhar Zaman 5 Mohammad Hafeez 6 Sohaib Maqsood 7 Shadab Khan 8 Hasan Ali 9 Mohammad Wasim 10 Usman Qadir 11 Haris Rauf