Pakistan consumed by waves of panic

	Shoaib Malik was one of four players stumped as Pakistan were consumed by panic © AFP  Enlarge
Related Links News : Hafeez apologises for Pakistan performance Report : West Indies dish out thashing to enter semis Players/Officials: Saeed Ajmal | Mohammad Hafeez | Shoaib Malik Matches: Pakistan v West Indies at Dhaka Series/Tournaments: World T20 Teams: Pakistan | West Indies

Pakistan never fail to surprise us, do they? If you had come expecting a thriller between two similar, explosive T20 sides, what you got instead was Pakistan showing us multiple, and all equally self-destructive, states of panic.

Two of their best bowlers, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul, cracked under pressure and gave away a combined 59 runs in three overs at the death. The top order went down heaving, and the middle order shut shop in response.

It was one of those nights from Pakistan. As was the night when they had sparked that incredible Australian collapse earlier in the tournament. We know both happened, separated by a matter of a few days. We also know Pakistan are capable of both kinds of displays within such a short span. We can try to delve into what happened and how it happened. Exactly why it happened, we will never really know.

Each wave of panic against West Indies only brought about another, albeit different one, from the following cast. When the opposition is 84 for 5 after 15 overs, and you have overs left from two of the most experienced and best T20 bowlers in the world, the last thing you are expecting is for both of them to lose it suddenly. And Gul lost it so much in the 18th over that as many as three fielders ran up to him at various points in the over with words of advice, or encouragement, or whatever it was that they felt could work at that moment.

Hafeez apologises for Pakistan performance

	It was a pretty poor performance from Pakistan with the bat © AFP  Enlarge
Related Links Features : Pakistan consumed by waves of panic Features : West Indies bring back their fear factor Report : West Indies dish out thashing to enter semis Players/Officials: Mohammad Hafeez | Kamran Akmal | Shoaib Malik Matches: Pakistan v West Indies at Dhaka Series/Tournaments: World T20 Teams: Pakistan | West Indies

Mohammad Hafeez was asked pretty direct questions after Pakistan failed to make the World T20 semi-finals with a heavy defeat to West Indies.

He was asked if he was considering resigning as T20 captain and if he was the No. 3 batsman the side needed. He was asked why Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik were persevered with. He was asked if the Pakistan team management was good enough. In reply, Hafeez apologized to the people of Pakistan for his team's unsuccessful campaign and said that the entire team was collectively responsible.

"After a loss, such things come up," Hafeez said. "But you have to keep in mind that no team wins because of any one individual or loses because of any one individual. It was a good display overall, but in this match, we didn't play well. We take collective responsibility. It's not one person's responsibility. The entire management, all the players, are equally responsible.

"The management has worked hard with the players. All the plans, they were able to reach the players, gave us all the practice. At the end of the day, the players have to deliver, they have to execute the plans. In this tournament, especially in this match, if the execution wasn't good, then the responsibility lies with the players, not the management. But as a team, we didn't do well. All of us have to accept it.

West Indies bring back their fear factor

West Indies may have a formula for T20, or they may just let it flow through them. Modern players often talk about going out on the field and expressing themselves but it appears to be only the West Indies team that truly do so, at least in this format of the game.

Whether dancing to calypso, Korean pop or some local folk number, West Indies' style has proved just as catchy as it was two years ago. The energy levels as they celebrated a sensational torpedoing of Pakistan were a little down on the party-hard reaction to beating Australia a few days ago, with just a few perfunctory giddy-ups for the cameras, but West Indies emanate conviction that their method is as sound as their arms are strong. With or without all the carry on, they are the World T20 entertainers.

Darren Sammy has become as powerful a symbol of this as Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, stars of their triumphant 2012 World T20. Tony Cozier has written about his resurgence in the finisher's role - innings in Auckland and Antigua, Barbados and Mirpur over the last few months underscore the point with all the emphasis of one of Sammy's flat sixes - and here the captain gave another tingling display of his dead-eye death batting.

As Saeed Ajmal, the premier spinner in this format, was crunched back down the ground in the 19th over, Sammy celebrated banishing the ball from his presence by pumping his fist back and forth, as if ramming home the metaphorical advantage. Ajmal had already gone the distance twice before, at the hands of Dwayne Bravo, who also belaboured Umar Gul - the second-most successful T20 bowler around - for consecutive sixes. Bravo was run out at the start of the final over but Sammy drove remorselessly on, thumping and jiving.

	Darren Sammy has proved to be a brutal force © Getty Images  Enlarge

Asked previously about West Indies preference for dots over dash, sixes over singles, Sammy said it was just a natural inclination as to how to play the game. Suresh Raina belittled the approach, to which Sammy responded: "If he thinks we are only six-hitters, then stop us from hitting sixes." India managed it, convincingly; Pakistan did not. Of West Indies' 166 for 6, 51 came in singles, twos and a three; 106 flowed in boundaries.

"In those situations, the best of them all go for runs," Bravo said of the disdain with which Ajmal and Gul were treated. "We had nothing to lose, we were under pressure. So I said to Sammy, as long as we stay still, don't worry about picking Ajmal or trying to rotate, just stay still, keep our eyes on the ball, we're powerful enough if we get close to the ball to hit it over the ropes. Our aim was to get at least 135 to 140 with the start we got but the self-belief we have, the form and the power we have, the momentum went with us, we finished positive and got to 160."

The power of West Indies' T20 batting - missing Kieron Pollard, too - has replaced the fear factor of their fast bowling in Tests 30 years ago. They use it to bludgeon opponents, intimidate them, shrugging off the chance to run ones and twos in favour of full-frontal assault. As with Samuels' tinderbox innings in the final of the last World T20, this match reinforced the sense that they are rarely ever out of a game.

West Indies' best win, worst scores in the Powerplays

	Denesh Ramdin equalled the record for the most stumpings by a wicketkeeper in a T20 international. © AFP  Enlarge
Related Links Report : West Indies dish out thashing to enter semis Players/Officials: Saeed Ajmal | Darren Sammy Matches: Pakistan v West Indies at Dhaka Series/Tournaments: World T20 Teams: Pakistan | West Indies

• This was West Indies' biggest win by margin of runs in T20 internationals. Their 74-run win against Australia in the semi-finals of the last World T20 was their previous biggest.
• This 84-run loss was Pakistan's second-worstdefeat in a T20I by margin of runs. Their worst defeat in T20Is came against Australia in Dubai in 2012, when they lost by 94 runs.
• West Indies' batsmen hit 82 runs from the last-five overs off Pakistan's bowlers, including 59 runs off the last three. This is the most any Full Member has conceded in the last five overs in a T20I. The previous highest scored in the last five overs was 81, by Sri Lanka against Australia in a T20I in Pallekele. Incidentally, Pakistan were bowled out for 82: exactly the same number of runs that they conceded in the last-five overs.
• Pakistan started disastrously, scoring just 13 runs off the Powerplay overs and losing four wickets in the process. This equalled the worst Powerplay score by a Full Member team in T20Is. The other such instance also came against West Indies was when Zimbabwe stumbled to 13 for 4 at the end of the Powerplays when batting first against West Indies in a T20I in Port-of-Spain. On that occasion though, West Indies ended up on the losing side.

The Afridi-Gul synchronised double slide

	Krishmar Santokie wasn't willing to give Ahmed Shehzad a sighter, trapping him lbw with a lovely inswinger © Getty Images  Enlarge
Related Links Matches: Pakistan v West Indies at Dhaka Series/Tournaments: World T20 Teams: Pakistan | West Indies

The dismissal
Mohammad Hafeez had bowled five deliveries to Chris Gayle and dismissed him twice before in T20 internationals. The first ball of his second over was the first time he bowled to Gayle in this match. It was tossed up, and drew Gayle out of his crease. Even as the batsman lunged clumsily in an attempt to play it, it spun past him and Kamran Akmal did the rest. Six balls to Gayle from Hafeez, and three dismissals.

The double slide
We often see the joint chase nowadays where two fielders run after a ball, one of them slides and instantly lobs it to the other who gets the throw in quicker. This was synchronization of a different kind. Soon after Gayle departed, Lendl Simmons punched Hafeez square on the off side. Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi raced after it. Afridi put in a slide and stopped the ball. But he had no one to lob it to, as Gul had gone down on the ground at exactly the same time next to Afridi, in the same manner. The legspinner stood up and himself threw the ball to the keeper.

The advisors
Dwayne Bravo went after Gul in the 18th over, hitting the first two balls of the over for sixes. The captain Hafeez ran up to his bowler to have a few words. Gul sprayed the next ball wide outside off. This time, it was Afridi who had something to tell Gul. Following a yorker, Gul bowled it wide again, and was hit for four over point. Now Sohail Tanvir decided his fellow quick bowler needed him, and trotted across to have his say.

The deceptive blow
West Indies' onslaught was in full flow when Darren Sammy heaved at Tanvir in the last over. It was a flattish hit, but the way it hung in the air, the fielder at long-on thought he had a chance. It seemed to have slowed down further, and he even took a few steps forward to make sure it would not fall short. It was deceptive, though. In the end, it cleared the fielder quite comfortably.

West Indies dish out thashing to enter semis

West Indies 166 for 6 (Bravo 46, Sammy 42*) beat Pakistan 82 (Badree 3-10, Narine 3-16) by 84 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

West Indies scored 84 runs in their first 15 overs. They nearly doubled their total after that, smashing 82 off the last 30 balls of the innings. No Full Member team had ever conceded so many in the last five overs of a Twenty20 game.

It remained to be seen which part of West Indies' innings, the first three-quarters or the final quarter, would make a bigger impact on the result as Pakistan began their chase, in a knockout game to determine who would take on Sri Lanka in the first semi-final on Thursday. In the end, West Indies could have declared after 15 overs and still won.

The timing of the assault by Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy - they put on 71 in 32 balls, having come together at 81 for 5 in the 14th over - was a knockout blow to Pakistan. You could tell by the way Sammy pumped his fists after pounding Saeed Ajmal for a straight six in the 19th over. It wasn't arrogance or bravado. It was adrenaline.

Big spin test for West Indies in must-win

This virtual quarter-final of the World T20 between Pakistan and West Indies has been expected for some time now. They are easily the two most exciting sides in this format. Their campaigns till now have panned out in similar fashion. Both went down to by the same margin of seven wickets to India in their opening games, both registered big wins over Bangladesh and finally, both narrowly overcame Australia in thrillers.

The Australia games provide pointers to how this contest could be determined. Glenn Maxwell seemed to have put Pakistan out of the game before they characteristically pounced on the opening his dismissal provided, their spinners kickstarting an Australian collapse from 126 for 2, and 146 for 3, to 175 all out. The West Indies batsmen came hard at Australia, then slowed down in the middle and seemed to have kept it for too late before their lower-middle order hitters swung them to a victory they celebrated wildly.

Australia stuck to a pace-heavy attack for most of the tournament, and it was one of the reasons they conceded big runs in almost every game. The last five overs of West Indies' chase were all bowled by quick bowlers, and the quickest of them, Mitchell Starc, was taken for 19 in the penultimate over by Darren Sammy.

It is no secret that West Indies' hitters like to have pace on the ball so that they can time those powerful swings. Pace will not come from Pakistan, except from Umar Gul, who himself is vastly experienced in this format and will not readily provide it at the wrong time. Barring Gul, there will be no pace at all. Instead, there will be Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez and Zulfiqar Babar. That means potentially 16 overs of spin in a 20-over innings.

	West Indies were stumped by India's spinners © Getty Images  Enlarge

In all their games so far, West Indies have not found it easy to take on spin. They did make 170-plus against Bangladesh, but that was helped by a shambolic fielding effort from the hosts. Young Australia legspinner James Muirhead removed Chris Gayle with the first ball of his second over. India just squeezed West Indies right from the start, and never allowed them to build any momentum. It can be argued that many sides have found it difficult against slow bowlers in these conditions, but West Indies' self-admitted reliance on the big shots puts them at greater risk.

Suresh Raina had said West Indies preferred to hit sixes and did not rotate strike much, something he said India would target, and did. While West Indies hit more sixes against India than they did against Bangladesh, the Indians were able to cut off the fours. West Indies managed nine against them, compared to 18 against Australia and 17 against the hosts.

32nd Match: Pakistan v West Indies - Scorecard

World T20 - 32nd match, Group 2

Pakistan v West Indies

West Indies won by 84 runs

• T20I no. 397 | 2013/14 season
• Played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur (neutral venue)
• 1 April 2014 - day/night (20-over match)

	West Indies innings (20 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	DR Smith	c †Kamran Akmal b Sohail Tanvir	8	17	13	2	0	61.53
	CH Gayle	st †Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Hafeez	5	10	4	1	0	125.00
	LMP Simmons	run out (Umar Gul)	31	34	29	2	2	106.89
	MN Samuels	b Shahid Afridi	20	29	18	1	1	111.11
	DJ Bravo	run out (†Kamran Akmal)	46	37	26	2	4	176.92
	D Ramdin†	c Umar Akmal b Zulfiqar Babar	5	10	10	0	0	50.00
	DJG Sammy*	not out	42	28	20	5	2	210.00
	AD Russell	not out	0	4	0	0	0	-
	Extras	(lb 4, w 5)	9
	Total	(6 wickets; 20 overs)	166	(8.30 runs per over)

Did not bat SP Narine, S Badree, K Santokie

Fall of wickets 1-10 (Gayle, 2.1 ov), 2-22 (Smith, 3.5 ov), 3-61 (Simmons, 10.1 ov), 4-67 (Samuels, 10.4 ov),5-81 (Ramdin, 13.5 ov), 6-152 (Bravo, 19.1 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	Mohammad Hafeez	2	0	15	1	7.50
	Sohail Tanvir	4	0	27	1	6.75	(1w)
	Zulfiqar Babar	4	0	27	1	6.75	(2w)
	Shahid Afridi	4	0	23	1	5.75
	Umar Gul	2	0	29	0	14.50	(1w)
	Saeed Ajmal	4	0	41	0	10.25	(1w)

	Pakistan innings (target: 167 runs from 20 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	Ahmed Shehzad	lbw b Santokie	0	1	1	0	0	0.00
	Kamran Akmal†	c Bravo b Badree	0	8	3	0	0	0.00
	Mohammad Hafeez*	c Gayle b Russell	19	44	32	0	0	59.37
	Umar Akmal	st †Ramdin b Badree	1	11	5	0	0	20.00
	Shoaib Malik	st †Ramdin b Badree	2	7	6	0	0	33.33
	Sohaib Maqsood	st †Ramdin b Narine	18	24	22	1	1	81.81
	Shahid Afridi	st †Ramdin b Narine	18	21	12	0	2	150.00
	Sohail Tanvir	c Sammy b Narine	14	14	12	1	1	116.66
	Umar Gul	c Simmons b Santokie	4	12	7	0	0	57.14
	Saeed Ajmal	b Russell	1	5	3	0	0	33.33
	Zulfiqar Babar	not out	3	5	4	0	0	75.00
	Extras	(w 2)	2
	Total	(all out; 17.5 overs)	82	(4.59 runs per over)

Fall of wickets 1-0 (Ahmed Shehzad, 0.1 ov), 2-1 (Kamran Akmal, 1.3 ov), 3-9 (Umar Akmal, 3.6 ov),4-13 (Shoaib Malik, 5.3 ov), 5-37 (Mohammad Hafeez, 10.3 ov), 6-42 (Sohaib Maqsood, 11.3 ov), 7-74 (Sohail Tanvir, 15.2 ov),8-75 (Shahid Afridi, 15.5 ov), 9-78 (Saeed Ajmal, 16.5 ov), 10-82 (Umar Gul, 17.5 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	K Santokie	2.5	0	9	2	3.17	(2w)
	S Badree	4	0	10	3	2.50
	MN Samuels	3	0	21	0	7.00
	AD Russell	3	0	15	2	5.00
	SP Narine	4	0	16	3	4.00
	DR Smith	1	0	11	0	11.00

Match details

Toss West Indies, who chose to bat Points West Indies 2, Pakistan 0

Player of the match DJ Bravo (West Indies)

Umpires IJ Gould (England) and RA Kettleborough (England) TV umpire M Erasmus (South Africa) Match referee RS Madugalle (Sri Lanka) Reserve umpire HDPK Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)

Match notes

West Indies innings Powerplay: Overs 0.1 - 6.0 (Mandatory - 39 runs, 2 wickets) West Indies: 50 runs in 7.5 overs (47 balls), Extras 2 West Indies: 100 runs in 16.3 overs (99 balls), Extras 8 6th Wicket: 50 runs in 27 balls (DJ Bravo 32, DJG Sammy 18, Ex 4) West Indies: 150 runs in 18.6 overs (114 balls), Extras 9 Innings Break: West Indies - 166/6 in 20.0 overs (DJG Sammy 42, AD Russell 0) Pakistan innings Powerplay: Overs 0.1 - 6.0 (Mandatory - 13 runs, 4 wickets) Pakistan: 50 runs in 12.3 overs (75 balls), Extras 2