Amir will Play an Important Role In Future

Sarfraz Ahmed, the Pakistan Twenty20 International skipper, has defended the team management's decision to not include pacer Mohammad Amir in the team for the second consecutive game. Speaking after his side's comfortable 16-run win over West Indies in the second T20I in Dubai on Saturday (September 25) that sealed the series, Sarfraz reasoned that it was important to give players a longer rope while claiming that Amir was still in their plans.

"We have tried to keep a winning combination so we didn't try to change too much," Sarfraz said. "That is also our target, to give players a longer run in the side to build their confidence. Mohammad Amir is our main bowler and he will definitely play an important role for us in the future."

Pakistan sent Umar Akmal to bat at No.6 and intend to use him there in the near future as a finisher, according to Sarfraz. The skipper also praised the contributions of senior all-rounder Shoaib Malik, with whom he stitched a useful partnership to take Pakistan to 160 after they were sent in to bat by West Indies. While Malik made 37, Sarfraz finished unbeaten on 46 from 32 deliveries.

"It was our strategy to play Umar Akmal at No. 6, since we needed a finisher in the lower order," he said. "We scored about 50 runs in the last five overs and we felt that was enough as we had set a target of a 150+ score. A lot of credit goes to Shoaib Malik too, the way he played with me at the end. We needed a senior player to stay at the wicket and he did that for us."

The disappointment was palpable in the West Indies camp as the defending champions were expected to put up a strong show after a disappointing outing in the first game on Friday. West Indies batting coach Toby Radford pointed out that the first six overs of both the innings highlighted the difference between the two sides.

"The first Powerplay yesterday and today were every similar," Radford said. "Yesterday we were five down, three down in the first six today. And I think the big difference when you looked at Pakistan in the first six was they were 38 for 1 and 39 for 1 on both days."

Radford also praised Pakistan for executing their plans to perfection by bowling plenty of spin on slow surfaces against a side packed with power-hitters, who generally prefer the ball coming on to the bat.

"Clearly the game plan from Pakistan has been to have slow wickets to bowl a lot of spin and have very big boundaries," he remarked. "West Indies are known to be a big, six-hitting and boundary-hitting side, normally play on quicker pitches and slightly smaller grounds. Pakistan have bowled well, they have actually fielded well.

"When they batted, they showed on a slow wicket and a big outfield that it's actually all about knocking the ball into gaps and doing a lot of running. They ran a lot of twos tonight which I think really stretched us and I don't think it was ever going to be a game for lots of boundaries because I don't think it's that type of surface and that type of outfield."

The two teams will now lock horns on Tuesday in the third T20I in Abu Dhabi.