Trinidad [West Indies], April. 2 : Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur has expressed disappointment over his team's batting performance post their defeat in the third T20I against West Indies on Saturday at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
25-year-old Evin Lewis played a superb knock of 91 as West Indies defeated Pakistan by seven wickets to keep the four-match T20 series alive.
Pakistan frittered away a promising position but still managed to post a competitive 137 for eight which the hosts chased down losing just three wickets inside 15 overs.
"We need to find some balance with our batting," ESPNcricinfo quoted Arthur as saying. "For us it was an opportunity to close out a series and we didn't do that. We've put ourselves under pressure, we can't lose the series, but still we've put ourselves under pressure for tomorrow." Kamran Akmal (48) and Babar Azam (43) had the visitors well poised for a big as they put on 88 runs for the second wicket.
But once they departed none of the other Pakistani batsmen could stay at the crease. "It was a really good partnership between Babar and Kamran. They played really well on this wicket. We set ourselves up for 160-165 at one stage and then we lost six wickets for 45, and that's a massive mountain to climb.
In the last four overs we only got 19 [21], those are stats we can't afford in games like these. So we'll continue working on that," Arthur added. The Sarfraz Ahmed led-side struggled for runs the rest of the way with a desperate West Indies team batting to limit the total to manageable proportions.
Just 45 runs came off the last eight overs with Badree the pick of the bowlers in claiming two for 22.
Chasing down the target, West Indies didn't let Pakistan's main threat with the ball from the previous two games, 18-year-old leg-spinner Shadab Khan, to spill his magic again as he was taken for 38 runs off 3.5 overs.
Lewis played a big role in that, taking 25 runs off 14 balls from Shadab, including three sixes. The Pakistan coach was, however, not overly concerned by Shadab's expensive display, saying it was natural for teams to deal with him more effectively as he became better known.
"Teams are going to take him on, teams are going to analyse him now, we've got to try and stay one step ahead with him," he said.
"But he's a great kid, he's a great bowler, and he has got such a big future. For us it's about giving him the right guidance now, and keeping him nice and grounded," he added. The two teams will now lock horns in the final T20 at the Queen's Park Oval..
Source: ANI
