The Twenty20 2.0 (or T2.0) versions of Pakistan and West Indies were once again working in parallels in Dubai on Saturday night as the former clinched the T20I series with a 16-run win.
Pakistan, rejuvenated under new management were ruthless in taking an unassailable 2-0 lead. In contrast the West Indies, without such stability, were hapless and hardly befitting of their status as reigning world champions.
Early on it seemed like Pakistan in the mould of Mickey Arthur and Sarfraz Ahmed were going to struggle once more to set the pace, but they soon showed the assuredness that continues to creep into the setup.
Jerome Taylor had the beating of Khalid Latif thanks to a series of wafts outside off-stump and the batsman planting roots at the crease while Samuel Badree removed Sharjeel Khan in his second over.
But just as we saw in the first T20I, Latif and Babar Azam combined superbly, balancing risk with intelligent manoeuvring of the field so often absent from Pakistani one-day innings.
There was art in their construction, not the death or glory approach so prevalent in other sides the country has produced down the years.
The first run was ran hard, twos were pushed or at the very least conscious thoughts, both quick and easy singles taken. And, importantly, they did so with little alarm.
In no time the pair had put on a second 50-run partnership in successive days and had laid a foundation on which the rest of the batsmen could build.
It was not an efficiency replicated by the West Indies who again looked off the boil in the field.
As Pakistan went about their business, they were aided by the West Indians as first Latif (on 13) and then Shoaib Malik (2) were shelled by Evin Lewis and Badree respectively.
Lewis did make up for this by running out Latif (40) but Pakistan continued to take singles with ease, playing tap and run to fielders knowing they were on their heels and the risk minimal when it should have been severe.
West Indies were similarly haphazard in the field on Friday and one glance at the two teams’ pre-match preparations at the stadium on Saturday told two very different stories.
One camp was netting for three hours prior to the start, their warm-ups closer to the toss highlighting once again the new-found intensity Pakistan are able to boast.
Just five strips over the West Indies looked every bit the rudderless ship, without a coach and left to their own devices.
Throw downs driven at team-mates and into the net where another was having a hit looked like a substitute teacher had come in for the day and the students were left to their own devices, giggling at answering each other’s names as the register is called out.
Carlos Brathwaite did put into practice his comments earlier in the week that he was continuing to learn on the job and was more active with his fields, but his panting expression as his side wilted in the UAE heat was a perfect metaphor for the West Indies’ struggles.
As much as they huffed and puffed, they could not blow the house down and taking on the highest winning run chase in Dubai looked a task beyond them.
It proved to be the case.
An unedifying response began with 19 runs and three wickets from the six-over powerplay. It was marginally better in terms of wickets lost but not runs scored than the previous night’s worst powerplay in the history of West Indies T20I cricket; 22-5.
Things didn’t get any better for Brathwaite’s men, their frustrations and how far they remain off the pace in this format laid painfully clear as they came a distant second despite Pakistan’s wayward death bowlers’ best attempts to make a game of things.
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