West Indies help Pakistan clinch a clean sweep not after zig zagging in final ODI

There's not been a single ODI in the just-concluded series where the West Indies didn't look intimidating or where it didn't seem that they had the game in the bag. But where most teams try to seal a game in their favour, the West Indies, habitual miscreants, assist their opposition to run away with the contest.

This is not to offend the Caribbean fan who may have already been offended by the kind of cricket their side played that was perhaps captivating, in parts, and mediocre, in general.

This was the standard theme of the second and definitive contest of the series, where despite being asked to chase 276 (an asking rate of 5.5 an over), the Windies were 71 for 2; going at 7 an over before folding out for an inexplicable 155.

This was also the theme of their final contest, where despite pushing back the hosts to 117 for 5 when at one stage, they were 85 for 1, the Windies allowed Pakistan to bounce back, scoring 269 in the end.

So while Babar Azam sported the brightest smile in the stadium, it wasn't quite the case for his opposite number, who may want to seriously reflect on the way the series was contested.

But what highlights defined the final ODI between Pakistan and the West Indies.

Shadab Khan's counter-attacking knock leads the fightback

Prior to the final ODI at Multan, Shadab Khan, all of 23, had the highest score of 54 in the limited-overs arena.

That changed considerably in the contest against the West Indies, who, courtesy of a not-so-promising combination of easy runs and banal bowling, allowed Khan to notch up an 86.

Shadab, essentially a leg-spinner and a fine one at that, joined forces with Khushdil Shah with the score reading 117 for 5.

Rescuing his team from such a precarious situation, the right-hander, who had arrived at the halfway stage, went on to bat nearly until the end and recorded a score that not just troubled the West Indies but also sprung Pakistan back into the contest.

Should the bowling team have had different plans for Shadab, should they have imposed a close-in fielding set to ignite more pressure on a talent, who's more of a bowler that can bat instead of a mainstream batsman are questions Pooran and his coaching support system must ponder.

The rise and rise of Imam-ul-Haq

A career that's a little over 50-ODI-old in the sport and has already scored 2,500 plus runs is no mean feat. But is that the only impressive feat about Imam, who hails from a high-class batting pedigree related to the all-time great Inzamam?

What's impressive, if one were to dive into details about Haq's exploits, is that nearly a fifth of his ODI career runs, 497 of 2520, have come in 2022, and we are only halfway through.

Though what the West Indies must think about- provided as a team they are keen to delve into where they lacked- is how they allowed the left-hander to score nearly 200 of his 497 runs (in 2022) this series?

A graceful timer of the ball and someone unafraid of the toil to collect singles and twos, such a vital aspect of the game in an age of gravity-defying hits, Imam was all over the Windies yet again as he scored a 62 and fired the opening salvo of his team's inning.

The cricketing fraternity on the whole, well and beyond Pakistan, must collectively laud Imam-ul-Haq for his purple patch, the opener scoring a fifty-plus knock in each of his last seven ODI outings.

Although what's doubtful is whether the preeminent sports columnists and media personnel will be too keen to cover others who are contributing to the game whose last names don't read Root, Smith, Kohli, Warner, Gayle, et cetera, with all due respect.

Atrocious West Indies batting finds new avenues of tilting down

The entire team folded on the second delivery of the thirty-seventh over, which is when sixty-four more deliveries were left in the contest.

Does that tell us something?

Though for the West Indies to make a contest of the game, you'd reckon, they'd have liked to simply hang in there in the middle instead of being perpetrators of their own downfall; the dismissals of Pooran and Powell, who were out muscling the bowlers when a sense of calmness could have opted for offers evidence.

And in order to take some bit of cognisance of the wilting standards of Caribbean batting, it's important to rewind to the scorecard of the second ODI, where no fewer than 106 deliveries were left in the game when the team bundled out for 155.

Not that any lessons seemed to have been taken in from that game, which, again, the West Indies should've grabbed since they were going at well above the asking rate at one stage with many wickets left in the tank.

Truth be told, if there's anything like a book on patience and collecting oneself amid adversity, then you might as well like to pick it up and place it into the hands of the Caribbean side, each of whose members are unquestionably brimming with lots of talent.

This is a team whose top order, Hope, Mayers, Brooks, fired notable hundreds recently, one of which came in the opening contest of the series, forget not Shai Hope's graceful 127.

And while Brooks would still fire a fifty and a useful forty in this series, Mayers, however unabashedly talented, may want to re-examine his approach. How can you last for only 45 deliveries in the series when you're an opening batsman?

Is there nothing to learn from Imam ul Haq's approach? 

Ditto for Rovman Powell. Should he not have capitalised when given a chance in each of the three ODI's after missing out on the games against the Dutch, where hypothetically speaking, he could've scored aplenty?

What's Pooran's approach to his ODI game- just bang-bang and wither away into the unknown? His four-for with his spin was the finest moment of the West Indies' bowling outing and should really be considered as a useful force- if and when- the team desires.

But how can you end a series as captain and, importantly, someone recognised for being a fine, fine talent, with only 57 runs under your belt?

Above anything else, was there nothing to learn for the rest of the ten in the team from Akeal Hosein's approach? 

For a front-line leg spinner, much like the case with Shadab Khan, Hosein walked into a dusty Multan ground only to leave behind shreds of golden spray with his batting.

That was when half his team was back in the dugout with the score inching towards 100. And this is something coach Simmons and captain Pooran must collectively wrap their heads around: if Hosein can take on the attack, hold himself from blind slogging and exhibit patience in his 60 (of his team's 216), can the other recognised batsman not do so?

None of the sixes that Hosein smoked to different parts of the ground, and he fired six of them, were mishits or ill-timed heaves; he took his time, got his eye in and then pressed the throttle.

Would any among Mayers, Pooran and Powell not have done so?

The key takeaway

Pakistan, given the way they played, seemed to have covered all their grounds; they've got a set opening stand, a top order comprising Babar, Imam and Rizwan that can bat deep and a collection of spin and fast bowling talent that, given their thoughtfulness and focus can even make an opponent look egregious. 

When Nawaz and Shadab don't give them wickets, any in the trio of Afridi, Rauf and Wasim Jr. will. On a good day, each of them will. 

But have the West Indies, who now have bright youngsters to support their cause, thought Seales, Carty, covered the lost ground?

Why didn't Shai Hope, who got off to a flier, convert his form into a continued outpouring of runs? Does the middle order have a sorted approach? 

What instructions are being issued by Pooran to Mayers and, importantly, to himself?

Is Rovman Powell, who first wielded a bat in ODIs, in 2016, the year of their famous World T20 triumph, applying himself just as well as he did for the Delhi Capitals?

Moreover, what are the existing coaching staff and collective think-tank of Caribbean cricket going to say about the sheer volume of overs this team leaves behind utterly untouched?

They've got the great Sir Haynes. They already have Jimmy Adams and Phil Simmons. More than that, the likes of Lara and Chanderpaul will always answer the phone if and when the team desires reaching out.

So with such ostentatious and world-beating resources, how can the West Indies only act like a team that's happy in engaging in mindless slogging and bowling to an often thoughtless plan instead of actually applying itself?

Is there an invisible rule out there in the great book of West Indian cricket to use only the broad shoulders and muscles but not the tool that exists on top of the shoulders?