Gros Islet (Saint Lucia), July 20: West Indies pulled off a miraculous tie against Pakistan matching the visitors' score of 229 in 50 overs, despite the team tottering on the brink of collapse at the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia on Friday..
With Pakistan keeping an upper hand in the run of play, making 229 for 6 in the allotted overs (Misbah ul-Haq making 75), the visitors were well on course with a batting collapse by the home team, when the magic overs came to play.
West Indies needed 39 runs off the last 3 overs with only two wickets in hand, with Jason Holder and Kemar Roach holding fort.
The home team tailenders hit a four off Saeed Ajmal, followed by two more, and a Pakistani fielder failing to catch the ball in the deep. An easy run out was missed off the last ball allowing West Indies a tie.
Earlier, Chris Gayle (8) and Johnson Charles (6) failed the home crowd with the former clean bowled by Junaid Khan and Johnston caught by Akmal off Irfan.
Lendl Simmons (75) and Marlon Samuels (46) steadied the innings somewhat, but after their departures, it was downhill again for the home team. Darren Bravo made 17 and Dwayne Bravo made 13 runs.
Scoreboard:
Pakistan:Ahmed Shehzad c Roach b Holder 17
Nasir Jamshed c Roach b Sammy 20
Mohammad Hafeez c Sammy b D J Bravo 14
Misbah-ul-Haq b D J Bravo 75
Haris Sohail c Pollard b Roach 26
Umar Akmal not out 40
Shahid Afridi c Narine b Holder 1
Wahab Riaz not out 19
Extras (lb6, w11) 17
Total (6 wickets, 50 overs) 229
Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-39, 3-92, 4-152, 5-174, 6-177.
Bowling: Roach 10-1-35-1, Holder 10-0-40-2, Sammy
10-0-30-1, Narine 9-0-55-0, D J Bravo 7-0-50-2, Samuels
3-1-4-0, Pollard 1-0-9-0.
West Indies: Chris Gayle b Khan 8
Johnson Charles c Akmal b Irfan 6
Darren Bravo c Hafeez b Riaz 17
Marlon Samuels c Akmal b Irfan 46
Lendl Simmons c Shehzad b Ajmal 75
Dwayne Bravo b Ajmal 13
Kieron Pollard b Khan 0
Darren Sammy c Hafeez b Khan 10
Kemar Roach not out 6
Sunil Narine b Ajmal 14
Jason Holder not out 19
Extras: (1b, 2lb, 12w) 15
Total: (for 9 wickets in 50 overs) 229
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-16, 3-50, 4-141, 5-178, 6-179,
7-184, 8-191, 9-205
Bowling: Mohammad Irfan 10-0-34-2, Junaid Khan 10-1-54-3,
Wahab Riaz 10-1-63-1, Mohammad Hafeez 6-0-16-0, Shahid Afridi
4-0-23-0, Saeed Ajmal 10-1-36-3.