By: Omair Alavi

Pakistan may have won the first T20 against World Champions West Indies in Barbados but the victory was far from a convincing one; the team went out with a mixture of old and new players and sadly, it was the new ones who made the difference. Lets take a look at The Good, The Bad and The Ugly performers of the match and hope that either the bad ones get dropped or improve in the next outing.

The Good

Shadab Khan came, he bowled and conquered. The leg spinner made his T20 debut memorable by taking as many as 3 wickets for just 7 runs which is the most economical figures, ever for a newbie. He was rightly used as an attacking bowler by Sarfraz Ahmed who won his 5th consecutive match in charge. Due to Shadabs brilliant spell combined with excellent captaincy, Pakistan managed to restrict the hosts for just 111. It took a gutsy innings from Babar Azam to rescue Pakistan from a familiar collapse and his 29 off 30 proved to be one of the reasons the greenshirts came out victorious.

The Bad

Kamran Akmal once again proved that he is one of the worst fielders in the world with or without gloves. Yes, he did provide the explosive start but that doesnt mean that one can forget the blunder in the field. His opening partner Ahmed Shehzad also told the selectors that their confidence in his abilities was short-lived as he did what he always does nothing exceptional with the bat. He may be a wonderful fielder and for that, he might play as a 12th man, one who doesnt burden the team with his irresponsible batting at the top!

The Ugly

Once upon a time there was a fast bowler named Wahab Riaz who bowled a wonderful spell against Australia in the last World Cup, 2 years back. He has been playing in the side for that one performance and its about time that he should make way for young guns that actually fire and take wickets, not just donate runs. His 4 overs went for 35 runs and helped the West Indians more than the Pakistan side. Another player who proved to be useless in the final XI was former captain Mohammad Hafeez who bowled one over and scored 5 runs off 12 deliveries which is criminal if you do that in a T20. If he cant bowl, cant bat and cant field, then why is he in the team beats me. It is time that non-utility players like him are shown the door and young ones are included, because the young are the way forward for Pakistan, not the old ones!

Story first published: 27th March 2017

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Anatomy of a Victory - SAMAA TV