Against Pakistan, West Indies spinner Gudakesh Motie did not bowl, and batted at No.4, both for the first time in his T20I career.
The first of three T20Is between the sides took place in Lauderhill, Florida on July 31. West Indies skipper Shai Hope won the toss and chose to put Pakistan in. Sahibzada Farhan was removed by Shamar Joseph in the fourth over, but Saim Ayub went on to score a half-century before Jason Holder dismissed him for 57.
West Indies hold back Gudakesh Motie for first time in 37 T20Is
From 83-1 at the halfway stage of their innings, Pakistan were reined in somewhat as they finished on 178-6, as regular No.3 batter Mohammad Haris, demoted to No.8, hit the final ball of the innings for six.
West Indies used six bowlers in their innings – Jediah Blades, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Roston Chase and Romario Shepherd. Conspicuous by his absence on the bowling card was left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, who has formed a devastating partnership with Hosein in T20I cricket.
Asked about the decision post-match, Hope explained, “The way Saim [Ayub] and Fakhar [Zaman] were going in the middle there, those two left-handers at the crease, didn't really want to give them that match-up too much (against the left-arm spinner).
“I thought [Roston] Chase bowled a really good spell at the lefties and I didn't realise the ball was spinning that much till I went out there to bat, so something that I may have missed a trick a little bit, you know, get more spinners involved in the game.”
The only other time Motie did not bowl in his 37-match long T20I career came last November against England, where the match was called off due to rain five overs in (West Indies were batting first).
Promoted to No.4, Motie dismissed for golden duck
Motie's somewhat confusing involvement in the match extended to the second innings as well. In pursuit of 179, West Indies were 75-2 in 11.5 overs, and Motie walked in at No.4. As it happened, he holed out in the deep attempting to go after his very first ball.
1st T20I, West Indies vs Pakistan
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- Ball by ball Over
Prior to this game, Motie had batted at every position from No.6 to No.11 in T20Is, but never any higher. He has, however, opened the innings twice, and batted at No.3 once, for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League. Motie also impressed with a quickfire 63 off 54 balls in an ODI against England earlier this year.
Post-match, Hope explained the call to promote him: “We obviously wanted to not let the spinners settle in the middle. So the plan was to let Johnno (Johnson Charles) go as hard as possible and if he gets out, Motie would've potentially gone at three.”
“But yeah, just happened that Jewel [Andrew] was the one to go out [first], just trying to get into the innings a bit quicker. It didn't come off today, so a bit unfortunate from that end. But yeah, the aim was to not let their spinners settle and when they did it just put us under pressure and it was difficult to come back after.”
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Motie's dismissal left West Indies 75-3, and they soon slipped to 92-5 and 110-6. In the end, they fell 14 runs short of Pakistan's total, despite Jason Holder's cameo of 30 off 12 balls.
Mohammad Nawaz finished with 3-23 in four overs, and the Player of the Match was Saim Ayub, who took 2-20 in addition to his half-century in the first innings.
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