Saturday’s convincing victory proved only a false dawn as West Indies quickly returned to their unpleasant old habits, plunging to a seven-wicket defeat to Pakistan in Port of Spain on Sunday, to concede the four-match series 3-1.
Chasing what would have been a series-tying victory at Queen’s Park Oval, West Indies struggled from the outset when they were restricted to a modest 124 for eight off their 20 overs.
Opener Chadwick Walton top-scored with 40 from 31 deliveries while captain Carlos Brathwaite chipped in with an unbeaten 37 off 24 balls down the order.
New ball seamer Hasan Ali was brilliant, snaring two for 12 from his four overs to clinch Man-of-the-Match honours while 18-year-old leg-spinner Shadab Khan once again played a key role, taking two for 16, to be adjudged Man-of-the-Series.
In reply, Pakistan were propelled by opener Ahmed Shezad who lashed 53 from 45 balls, as they marched to their target with an over to spare.
The consistent Babar Azam chimed in with 38 from 36 balls, while rookie seamer Kesrick Williams finished with two for 26 to be the best bowler for West Indies.
The disappointing series defeat was the second straight one for the reigning T20 World champions, following their 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates last September.
Hoping to captalise on Saturday’s win which hauled them back into the series following losses in their opening two games, West Indies started strongly with Walton and Evin Lewis (7) posting 27 off 17 balls for the first wicket.
The left-handed Lewis, who top-scored with 91 on Saturday, looked to be extending that form when he swatted Ali over the ropes at long off in the day’s second over but perished in the next over when he picked out Ali at square leg with left-arm spinner Imad Wasim.
Walton, who slammed two fours and four sixes, put on a further 25 for the second wicket with Marlon Samuels before he too departed, caught off Shadab at long on in the ninth over by Shoaib Malik who had earlier put down the Jamaican on 18.
Walton’s dismissal triggered a now familiar middle order slide as West Indies lost a flurry of wickets – six falling for 31 runs in the space of 43 deliveries – as Ali and Shadab wrecked the innings.
Tottering on 83 for seven in the 16th over, West Indies were rescued by Brathwaite’s career-best knock which included two fours and two sixes.
More importantly, he put on an important 38 for the eighth wicket with Sunil Narine (9) which helped West Indies past the 100-run mark.
On 121 for eight at the start of the final over, West Indies’ hopes of a competitive total were scuppered by the excellent Ali who tied down Brathwaite and Samuel Badree and conceded just three runs.
Shezad then got Pakistan away safely in their run chase, anchoring two key partnerships up front to erase any lingering Windies hopes of a victory.
The right-hander punched six fours and a six, putting on 40 for the first wicket with Kamran Akmal (20) and 70 for the second wicket with Babar.
Shezad startedly slowly but picked up with two back-to-back boundaries off seamer Jason Holder in the sixth over, and paced his innings nicely to raise his sixth T20I half-century with a cover-driven four off Williams in the 16th over.
Akmal fell in the seventh over, tapping off-spinner Samuels to Williams at mid-wicket but Babar helped steady the innings, stroking a four and a six while surviving a chance on 30 in the 14th over off leg-spinner Badree.
He and Shezad fell in the space of seven balls – in successive overs from Williams – to leave Pakistan on 115 for three in the 18th over but by that time, the result had been virtually decided.

The "time is right" for cricket to apply for a place at the Olympics, according to International Cricket Council chief Dave Richardson.
Cricket has not been played at the Summer Games since Great Britain beat France to win gold in 1900.
But the ICC believes an Olympic Twenty20 tournament is the key to growing the game.
"I think the majority of the members – and certainly myself - think the time is right," said Richardson.
"We've come to the conclusion that the overall benefit to the game, in terms of globalising and growing it, outweighs any negatives.
"We need to make a decision by July so we can make an application in time for September, when, as I understand it, the (International Olympic Committee) will consider new sports for 2024."
The 2024 Games will be hosted by either Paris or Los Angeles, with a decision due in September 2017.
With growing concerns about the cost of staging the Games, the IOC has been reluctant to go much beyond 11,000 athletes at an Olympics, although it did add five new sports to the programme for Tokyo 2020 without removing any.
Richardson, who made 164 appearances for South Africa in Tests and one-day internationals, said preliminary talks with the IOC have already taken place and the discipline to be included for consideration must be a format played at international level.
"They haven't said [an existing] sport would have to go [to make room], but they said when taking any decision on a new sport they've got an overall limit on the number of athletes," he said.
"So as a team sport we would only fit six to eight teams. T20 is the ideal format and we'd say even better than rugby sevens as it's actually one of the mainstream formats of cricket."
He said that he did not think there would be any opposition from ICC members England or West Indies due to the fact that they would not be able to compete at a Games under those banners.
He suggested England would be relaxed about playing along with other home nations as Great Britain.

Wed Apr 5 (14:30 GMT), 1st match - SH v RCB, Pune
Thu Apr 6 (14:30 GMT), 2nd match - RPS v MI, Pune
Fri Apr 7 (14:30 GMT), 3rd match - GL v KKR, Rajkot
Sat Apr 8 (10:30 GMT), 4th match, KXIP v RPS, Indore
Sat Apr 8 (14:30 GMT), 5th match, RCB v DD, Bangalore
Sun Apr 9 (10:30 GMT), 6th match, SH v GL, Hyderabad
Sun Apr 9 (14:30 GMT), 7th match, MI v KKR, Mumbai
Mon Apr 10 (14:30 GMT), 8th match, KXIP v RCB, Indore
Tue Apr 11 (14:30 GMT), 9th match, RPS v DD. Pune
Wed Apr 12 (14:30 GMT), 10th match, MI v SH, Mumbai
Thu Apr 13 (14:30 GMT), 11th match, KKR v KXIP, Kolkata
Fri Apr 14 (10:30 GMT), 12th match, RCB v MI, Bangalore
Fri Apr 14 (14:30 GMT), 13th match, GL v RPS, Rajkot
Sat Apr 15 (10:30 GMT), 14th match, KKR v SH, Kolkata
Sat Apr 15 (14:30 GMT), 15th match, DD v KXIP, Delhi
Sun Apr 16 (10:30 GMT), 16th match, MI v GL, Mumbai
Sun Apr 16 (14:30 GMT), 17th match, RCB v RP, Bangalore
Mon Apr 17 (10:30 GMT), 18th match, DD v KKR, Delhi
Mon Apr 17 (14:30 GMT), 19th match, SH v KXIP, Hyderabad
Tue Apr 18 (14:30 GMT), 20th match, GL v RCB, Rajkot
Wed Apr 19 (14:30 GMT), 21st match, SH v DD, Hyderabad
Thu Apr 20 (14:30 GMT), 22nd match, KXIP v MI, Indore
Fri Apr 21 (14:30 GMT), 23rd match, KKR v GL, Kolkata
Sat Apr 22 (10:30 GMT), 24th match, RPG v SH, Pune
Sat Apr 22 (14:30 GMT), 25th match, MI v DD, Mumbai
Sun Apr 23 (10:30 GMT), 26th match, GL v KXIP, Rajkot
Sun Apr 23 (14:30 GMT), 27th match, KKR v RCB, Kolkata
Mon Apr 24 (14:30 GMT), 28th match, MI v RPS, Mumbai
Tue Apr 25 (14:30 GMT), 29th match, RCB v SH, Bangalore
Wed Apr 26 (14:30 GMT), 30th match, RPS v KKR, Pune
Thu Apr 27 (14:30 GMT), 31st match, RCB v GL, Bangalore
Fri Apr 28 (10:30 GMT), 32nd match, KKR v DD, Kolkata
Fri Apr 28 (14:30 GMT), 33rd match, KXIP v SH, Chandigarh
Sat Apr 29 (10:30 GMT), 34th match, RPS v RCB, Pune
Sat Apr 29 (14:30 GMT), 35th match, GL v MI, Rajkot
Sun Apr 30 (10:30 GMT), 36th match, KXIP v DD, Chandigarh
Sun Apr 30 (14:30 GMT), 37th match, SH v KKR, Hyderabad
Mon May 1 (10:30 GMT), 38th match, MI v RCB, Mumbai
Mon May 1 (14:30 GMT), 39th match, RPS v GL, Pune
Tue May 2 (14:30 GMT), 40th match, DD v SH, Delhi
Wed May 3 (14:30 GMT), 41st match, KKR v RPS, Kolkata
Thu May 4 (14:30 GMT), 42nd match, DD v GL, Delhi
Fri May 5 (14:30 GMT), 43rd match, RCB v KXIP, Bangalore
Sat May 6 (10:30 GMT), 44th match, SH v RPS, Hyderabad
Sat May 6 (14:30 GMT), 45th match, DD v MI, Delhi
Sun May 7 (10:30 GMT), 46th match, RCB v KKR, Bangalore
Sun May 7 (14:30 GMT), 47th match, KXIP v GL, Chandigarh
Mon May 8 (14:30 GMT), 48th match, SH v MI, Hyderabad
Tue May 9 (14:30 GMT), 49th match, KXIP v KKR, Chandigarh
Wed May 10 (14:30 GMT), 50th match, GL v DD, Kanpur
Thu May 11 (14:30 GMT), 51st match, MI v KXIP, Mumbai
Fri May 12 (14:30 GMT), 52nd match, DD v RPS, Delhi
Sat May 13 (10:30 GMT), 53rd match, GL v SH, Kanpur
Sat May 13 (14:30 GMT), 54th match, KKR v MI, Kolkata
Sun May 14 (10:30 GMT), 55th match, RPS v KXIP, Pune
Sun May 14 (14:30 GMT), 56th match, DD v RCB, Delhi
Tue May 16 (14:30 GMT), Qualifier 1- TBC v TBC, Venue TBC
Wed May 17 (14:30 GMT), Eliminator - TBC v TBC, Venue TBC
Fri May 19 (14:30 GMT), Qualifier 2 - TBC v TBC, Venue TBC
Sun May 21 (14:30 GMT), Final, TBC v TBC, Hyderabad

India’s bumper 13-Test home season has taken a big toll on its players with a host of them set to miss at least part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with injuries.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will be without captain Virat Kohli for at least the initial phase of the Twenty20 tournament as the India skipper recovers from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the series-sealing final Test win over Australia.
“His [Kohli’s] recovery will be assessed in the second week of April to determine an exact return to play date for IPL 2017,” the BCCI said in a statement. South African A.B. de Villiers will lead the side in Kohli’s absence.
Bangalore, who have already lost Australia paceman Mitchell Starc to injury, will also be without Lokesh Rahul for the entire tournament, with the India opener likely to undergo surgery on his left shoulder.
Rahul’s India opening partner Murali Vijay, who plays for Kings XI Punjab, will undergo wrist surgery and is expected to miss the April 5-May 21 tournament.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will sit out the entire campaign for Rising Pune Supergiant as he recovers from groin pain, the BCCI said.

Bangladesh had to settle for a drawn series after conceding a 70-run defeat against Sri Lanka in the 3rd and last ODI at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo on Saturday, reports UNB.
Chasing a target of 281 runs, Bangladesh fell well short getting dismissed for 210 in just 44.3 overs, despite Mehedi Hasan Miraz hitting a half century in his very first ODI innings, having made his debut in the format in the first match of the series.
Miraz held his nerve to face 71 balls and fired six boundaries before being caught by skipper Upul Tharanga off Nuwan Kulasekara’s bowling at 209/9 in 44.1.
Taskin Ahmed, the last batsman for Bangladesh, was caught by Asela Gunaratne off Nuwan Kulasekara bowling, scoring 14 runs off 27 balls with one four.
All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was another big hitter with 54 off 62 balls, including seven boundaries.
Soon after his 34th ODI half century, Shakib was caught by Danushka Gunathilaka off Dilruwan Perera’s bowling leaving the Tigers in a dire situation at 118/6 in 23.2 overs.
After a poor start that saw Bangladesh 11/3 in 3.3 overs, Shakib and Soumya Sarker paired in the 4th wicket for 77 in 11.4 overs that recovered the innings a bit.
But once that partnership was broken, the Tigers batters again seemed hell-bent to self-destruct as the next four wickets – Soumya, Mosaddek Hossain, Shakib, Mahmudullah Riyad – were back in the pavilion for 39 runs in 10.3 overs leaving the total at 127/7 in 25.4 overs.
Soumya fired the only six for Bangladesh in the innings and three boundaries on his way to 38 off 44 balls. He was stumped by Dinesh Chandimal off Dilruwan Perera’s bowling.
Nuwan Kulasekara captured four wickets for an economic 37 runs in 7.3 overs.
Seekkuge Prasanna, Suranga Lakmal and Dilruwan Perera took two wickets each for 33, 38 and 47 runs respectively.
Earlier, sent in to bat first, host Sri Lanka scored 280 for 9 in 50 overs where number 3 batsman Kusal Mendis hammered a fifty of 54 off 76 balls, including four boundaries, and number seven batsman Thisara Perera added a quick 52 off 40 balls that included four boundaries and one six.
Danushka Gunathilaka and skipper Upul Tharanga ensured a good start for Sri Lanka keeping the Tigers bowlers barren up to 10.5 overs before Mehedi Hasan Miraz had Gunathilaka caught with the score at 76/1.
Dinesh Chandimal (21) was run out at 136/3 in 25.5 overs, after facing a ball off all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
Chandimal’s bat was plunked inside the crease but he lifted it even as both feet were in the air when the bails were dislodged. Taskin threw the ball from the deep point area while keeper Mushfiqur Rahim smartly did the rest.
Summary of matches played - Bangladesh v Sri Lanka
1st Test: at Galle - Mar 7-11, 2017
S/Lanka 494 & 274/6d; B/Desh 312 & 197 (60.2 ov, target: 457)
Sri Lanka won by 259 runs
2nd Test: at Colombo (PSS) - Mar 15-19, 2017
S/Lanka 338 & 319; B/Desh 467 & 191/6 (57.5 ov, target: 191)
Bangladesh won by 4 wickets
1st ODI: at Dambulla - Mar 25, 2017
Bangladesh 324/5 (50/50 ov); Sri Lanka 234 (45.1/50 ov)
Bangladesh won by 90 runs
2nd ODI: at Dambulla - Mar 28, 2017
No result
3rd ODI: at Colombo (SSC) - Apr 1, 2017
Sri Lanka 280/9 (50/50 ov); Bangladesh 210 (44.3/50 ov)
Sri Lanka won by 70 runs
1st T20I: at Colombo (RPS) - Apr 4, 2017
Bangladesh 155/6 (20 ov); Sri Lanka 158/4 (18.5 ov)
Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
2nd T20I: at Colombo (RPS) - Apr 6, 2017

India wrapped up a 2-1 series victory over Australia by winning the fourth and deciding Test in Dharamsala on the fifth and final day. The hosts needed 106 in their second innings to win and reached their target for the loss of two wickets.
They had resumed on 19-0 and Murali Vijay went for eight while Cheteshwar Pujara was run out without scoring.
However, KL Rahul's unbeaten 51 – his sixth half century of the series – and stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane's 38 not out eased them to victory.
Rahul hit the winning runs as India won the 10th out of 13 Tests in a marathon home campaign which saw the top-ranked team beat New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia.
India's only defeat in those contests came against Australia when they were thrashed by 333 runs in the first Test of the series.
The hosts bounced back with victory in the second and, after the third was drawn, won the fourth without injured captain Virat Kohli to beat the number two ranked Test team.
"This is our best series win so far," said Kohli. "The maturity and responsibility shown by the boys was great to see.
"The changes we made to our fitness regime have paid off. It has been a team season. The responsibility has been shared."
The fourth Test turned on day three when India bowled Australia out for 137 but visiting captain Steve Smith, who scored three centuries in the series, said he was "proud of the way the guys have competed".
He added: "It was a magnificent series, probably one of best I have been involved in.
"A lot of people wrote us off before we got here but I am proud of how the guys adapted. We probably let a few moments slip and against India you cannot do that."
Summary of matches played - India v Australia
1st Test: India v Australia at Pune - Feb 23-25, 2017
Australia 260 and 285; India 105 and 107 (33.5 ov, target: 441)
Australia won by 333 runs
2nd Test: India v Australia at Bengaluru - Mar 4-7, 2017
India 189 and 274; Australia 276 and 112 (35.4 ov, target: 188)
India won by 75 runs
3rd Test: India v Australia at Ranchi - Mar 16-20, 2017
Australia 451 and 204/6 (100 ov); India 603/9d
Match drawn
4th Test: India v Australia at Dharamsala - Mar 25-28, 2017
India won by 8 wickets

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday of last week proposed a limited-over series with Pakistan, comprising five one-day and two Twenty20 internationals, but reiterated that the Indian team would not be travelling to Pakistan or UAE for the matches.
“We are committed to playing Pakistan in December. However, since it’s not possible to play them in Pakistan or the UAE, we have to look at playing the series in Northern India in December,” BCCI chief Shashank Manohar told The Hindu.
“To play against Pakistan we need to get government permission. So we need to speak to the government and abide by whatever decision the government takes.”
While the development may provide some relief to the Pakistan Cricket Board, there has been no mention of a full-fledged Test series between India and Pakistan as agreed upon between the two boards in 2014 on the sidelines of an International Cricket Council (ICC) annual conference in Melbourne.
According to Indian media, top BCCI officials have already started talks with the government and another series of discussions are expected to take place after Diwali.
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur will be approaching the Union Home Ministry to get confirmation for the series.
“We want cricketing ties to happen, we don’t want politics to hamper cricket,” a top BCCI official was quoted by The Indian Express.
“We will be going with a few proposals: one, where we can have five ODIs and two T20s. In the second proposal, we can have three ODIs and two T20s. All these games will be played in those parts of the country where we feel there will be no disturbance from political parties.”
Earlier, the BCCI in a letter to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Oct 29 expressed regret over the cancellation of talks between PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan and Manohar.
The BCCI, in its letter, said that they have approached the Indian government for the approval of a bilateral series between the two traditional rivals.
Shaharyar Khan, along with a three-member PCB delegation, visited India to discuss with BCCI president Shashank Manohar to take a final decision whether India was ready to play the series as per the MoU signed last year.
However, members of the Shiv Sena party sabotaged the scheduled meeting at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, when around 40 to 50 individuals stormed the venue of the meeting prior to its start.
The two countries have not played a full series against each other since 2007, though Pakistan toured India for a short series in December 2012.
The series is one of six agreed between the PCB and BCCI under a Memorandum of Understanding signed when PM Manmohan Singh-led government gave its go-ahead for the series.
Later the BCCI said it will have to get permission from their new Modi-led government for the said series.
But the current strained political situation with regular ceasefire violations in the Kashmir area and cancellation of talks between the security advisers of the two countries in August leaves the series in serious doubt.
Meanwhile, Shaharyar M Khan last Thursday tendered his resignation to the Patron-in-Chief of the PCB Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a news conference in Lahore that followed the Board of Governors (BoGs) meeting.
In that meeting, the outgoing chairman said there was hardly any chance that India would play bilateral series against Pakistan amid all the negative vibes from the Indian government.
He said the PCB was ready to take legal action against the BCCI for its violation of MoUs signed with the PCB in 2014.
First, he said, the PCB would give a notice to BCCI as a warning and then the it would go to the ICC’s dispute-resolving committee.
“And if both the attempts fail, then the PCB would have the right to sue India in the World Court of Arbitration,” stated Shaharyar who insisted that the PCB had suffered losses in millions of dollars due to India’s refusal to play with Pakistan.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has turned down an invitation from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a tour before July this year.
In an attempt to bring international cricket back to the country, the PCB had invited Bangladesh for a two-­match T20 series to take place later this year.
Pakistan are scheduled to tour Bangladesh in July and hoped to play host before their visit. The PCB has also asked the BCB to share part of the profits generated from their visit towards compensation for repeatedly refusing to tour Pakistan for six years.
The PCB had hosted the Pakistan Super League T20 final in Lahore earlier on March 5 this year with a view to proving that the country could safely host cricket matches. A representative of the BCB attended the final.
However, claiming that security arrangements are still inadequate, the BCB has turned down the invite for the tour.
“We had a BCB security team visit Pakistan during the final of the PSL T20 last month. The reports were not satisfactory enough due to which we had to pull back. Even the ICC had a fact finding team visit the country and did not see any development as of yet,” BCB’s media and communications committee chairman Jalal Younus was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune.
ICC security adviser Sean Norris was present at the PSL final to assess the situation and security arrangements. He is expected to submit a report at the ICC board meeting being held later this month.
The BCB has said that it is willing to play the series at a neutral venue. However, the PCB does not consider it financially viable to host teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the UAE, which has been adopted for their home matches since the March 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore.
Bangladesh are now the fourth team in two years to turn down invitations to tour Pakistan; the others were West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka.
Zimbabwe were the first nation to visit Pakistan after the attacks when they played a three-match ODI series and two-match T20 International series in 2015.

Headline News >