Pakistan eye quick turnaround in second T20I against West Indies

Overview:

West Indies vs Pakistan, second T20I
Coolidge Cricket Ground, Coolidge
2 July, 02:00 PM local

West Indies will look to wrap up the series and register their first T20I series win since 2019 when they face Pakistan in Coolidge. Despite winning the first game, the home side will hope for an improved performance with both bat and ball. The batting line-up failed to build on the foundations laid by the openers while the bowlers almost let the game slip after the visitors were 57/6 at one point.

Pakistan, on the other hand, have a few positives to take out of the first game, especially from the fight shown by Ayesha Naseem and Fatima Sana. Just like Windies, the visitors too are yet to win a T20I series since 2019 and will want to keep the series alive going into the last game.

Remember the last time:

West Indies beat Pakistan by 10 runs in the first T20I at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

After being put in to bat first, Windies openers Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin put on a solid 65-run stand for the first wicket. The rest of the batters got decent starts but failed to get the big scores as Pakistan bowlers restricted the home team to 136/6 in 20 overs. During her economic spell of 2/15, Nida Dar became the first Pakistani cricketer to get 100 wickets in the shortest format of the game.

Chasing 137, the Pakistan batters had no answer to Shamilia Connell's splendid opening spell where she removed Javeria Rauf, Javeria Khan and Nida Dar in her first two overs. The visitors sunk further and found themselves at 57/6 before Ayesha Naseem and Fatima Sana strung together an unbeaten 69-run partnership. Unfortunately, they could not get Pakistan over the line as they fell short by 10 runs.

What they said:

Shamilia Connell (West Indies bowler): "It feels great. coming off the last game I played in England I was Player of the Match also, so being able to start back my international series with a man of the match is a great feeling as well. My game plan was to just go out there and execute my areas hard and just try to contain as much as possible."