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‘Shoaib changed momentum of the game’ – Holder
- Updated: October 3, 2016
West Indies captain Jason Holder has credited Shoaib Malik as the catalyst for Pakistan’s series-clinching victory in the second ODI at Sharjah. Pakistan had lost two wickets in three balls to bring Shoaib to the crease at 40 for 2 in the sixth over, but the allrounder scored 90 off 84 balls and teamed with Babar Azam to add 159 for the third wicket to put Pakistan back on course for a match-winning total.
“If I go back to our innings when we bowled, I just felt we leaked too many boundaries at a crucial stage of the innings,” Holder said after the game. “I thought Shoaib Malik played an outstanding innings. He changed the impetus in terms of the middle overs. I think he put us under some pressure in the middle overs which we probably didn’t react to as well as we would like.”
Holder defended his tactics after the game when asked if he had attacked enough with Pakistan two men down inside the Powerplay. Sulieman Benn, who Holder said was his best bowler in the first ODI, was held back until the 19th over, but Shoaib responded to his arrival by hitting him for a six in his first and second overs before striking three more off consecutive deliveries in the 27th.
“Our most successful bowler in the last game was Sulieman Benn and he was taken to by Shoaib …
