Shoaib Malik played an outstanding innings: Holder

Sharjah - West Indies captain felt that Shoaib Malik's innings had turned the tide

It was pretty much a bleak picture for the West Indies in the tour thus far. Having arrived here without a head coach, the men from the Caribbean were swept by a resurgent Pakistan in the first part of the tour - the T20s.
And there was no much luck in the ODI series either with them losing the first game in Sharjah on Friday night.
They lost the second game too, also at Sharjah on Sunday night, to lose the series with a game still left to play. But captain Jason Holder would have be heartened by the fact that, for the first time on the tour, they managed to put up a fight.
Chasing a massive target of 338, the West Indies batting finally came together and although they lost by 59 runs, Holder said that they gleaned a lot of positives from the game.
"There's still quite a few positives we can look at," said Holder.
"Alzarri Joseph making his debut, I thought he was pretty outstanding. Kraigg (Brathwaite) coming into his second game, he showed a lot more promise, a lot more fight. Darren Bravo got a score as well and Marlon Samuels continuing his good form. So, still a few positives to look at. I just think we just need to bring together that one complete game," he added.
Bravo top scored with 61, while Marlon Samuels made 57. Opener Kraigg Brathwaite scored 39, while Alzarri Joseph, who was handed the ODI cap by the legend Sir Viv Richards, took two for 62.
Pakistan's total was down to the young Babar Azam, who coshed his second successive century. And while Holder gave credit to Azam for his knock, the West Indies captain felt that Shoaib Malik's innings had turned the tide.
Pakistan were two down for 40 when Malik came in and joined Azam. And the pair went on to put on 169 for the third wicket with Malik scoring 90 from 84 balls with six sixes and three boundaries.
"I just felt we leaked too many boundaries at a crucial stage of the innings. 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," he said.
"Our most successful bowler in the last game was Sulieman Benn and he was taken to by Shoaib Malik. I thought Shoaib truly changed the momentum of the game there. I didn't think Benn bowled badly but I just think he got on top of Benn at that stage. I went to my two wicket-takers and Sulieman Benn at that stage. He got the better of Benn," added Holder.
james@khaleejtimes.com