Pakistan beats West Indies by 59 runs in second ODI

TIL Desk Sports/ Fast-rising Babar Azam cracked a second successive hundred to guide Pakistan to a dominant 59-run win over the West Indies in the second one-day international in Sharjah, gaining an unbeatable 2-0 lead in three-match series. Azam’s brilliant 126-ball 123 formed the cornerstone of Pakistan’s imposing 337-5 which also featured half-centuries from Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed.

West Indies finished on 278-7 from their 50 overs with Darren Bravo hitting 61 and Marlon Samuels scoring 57. The final match will be in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.”It was a wonderful team effort,” said Pakistan captain Azhar Ali. “We needed a good partnership after losing two early wickets and Azam and Malik gave that to us with pace and wisdom.”

West Indian captain Jason Holder rued his team’s bad bowling. “I think we didn’t bowl as well as we would have wanted and in the end 330-plus was too much for us,” said Holder. West Indies needed to improve on their best chase of 285 against Pakistan which came in 1993 at this same venue, but Pakistan’s varied attack kept them at bay.