Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik help Pakistan whip West Indies

Sharjah - Babar Azam scored 123 off 126 balls in the second ODI at the Sharjah Stadium

Back in the day, when the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar, to name a few, used to play, there used to be these large hoardings placed at strategic points of the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
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The thought behind it was that if a batsman managed to hit one of these boards, they stood to be richer by Dh2,000. That was pretty good money in those days and some illustrious names did have a go at it and were successful more often than not.
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Fast forward to the here and now, those hoardings are long gone, if not, a certain Shoaib Malik may have ended up with a nice enough booty on Sunday evening.
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The 27^th over of Pakistan's innings was a defining one. It was by no means the most expensive over but it did more than enough to deflate the West Indies.
Malik lay into Sulieman Benn, firing rockets, creaming the towering left-arm spinner from Barbados, and tucking them straight into the stands.
There were three high and mighty sixes, with ruthlessness written all over it. And he bettered each one with each passing ball, with the final one going out of the stadium and landing on the road. An astonishing 103 metres!
It was carnage out there and perhaps, in a lighter vein, Malik should pay the stadium authorities for damages as one of those sixes made a hole in the Sharjah Cricket Stadium board which runs across at the Pavilion End.
Be that as it may, he, the young Babar Azam, who scored his second ton on the bounce, and Sarfraz Ahmed put the skates on to glide Pakistan to 337 for 5, their second highest total in the UAE. The highest total is 364-7 against New Zealand, also at Sharjah, in 2014.
With the series on the line, that was a massive, massive mountain to scale for a West Indies side, whose free-spirited big-hitting as well as intent had failed to make an appearance thus far.
There was a bit of intent shown but not enough against a Pakistan team, which is smoothly making the transition, while West Indies are left to ponder of their own.
The West Indies tried and made a fist of it but it was a bridge too far to cross as Pakistan won the game by 59 runs, as well as the ODI series, even before they make the trip to the UAE Capital.
Nevertheless, it was a much improved showing by the West Indians, with the batsmen finally coming into their own after misfiring all this while.
Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels made half-centuries, while Kraigg Brathwaite, Denesh Ramdin, captain Jason Holder chipped in with handy scores as West Indies mustered 278-7.
Going back to Pakistan's innings, it was about the old guard and the new guard, working together seamlessly.
Even as the young gun Babar Azam, 16 matches old, galloped majestically to another century at Sharjah, it was Malik's innings which blighted the match.
A veteran of 239 One Day Internationals, Malik rolled back the years with a crucial knock in the context of things.
Pakistan were two down for 40 when the 34-year-old Malik strode to the crease to join Azam and the script could have gone any which way from there.
But Malik and the apprentice Azam shouldered Pakistan through a vital phase of the innings. And it was indeed a treat to watch the duo bat as they went on to compile 169 runs for the third wicket to puncture West Indies' hopes.
After Malik had cut his teeth into Benn, a ninth ton was there for the taking, but sadly enough, he fell 10 runs short. But he would have been mighty pleased to see Azam earn his stripes and turn from boy to man.
Azam then joined forces with Sarfraz Ahmed and the pair put together 73 runs for the fourth as the former bested his 120 from Friday with 123 on the night.
Later, Sarfraz and Imad Wasim added 38 for the fifth as Pakistan cruised to that mammoth total.
james@khaleejtimes.com