Pak warm up for real thing

From the Pakistan point of view, as important as winning this event is the fact that they host India in a week’s time, and coach Aaqib Javed confirmed that this win would raise the confidence level of the crowds back home, if not spur the seniors on. He added: ‘‘Whether that also translates to a good showing from the team is, of course, a different story but people will believe that if the juniors do so well, the seniors can too.’’

Another thing this win would have done for the Pakistanis is throw up a set of names that Aaqib promised he would mention to the PCB in his report for induction into the national academy.

These names, as expected, were Tariq Mahmood, Riaz Afridi, Mansoor Amjad, Fawad Alam, Jahangir Mirza and Sulaman Qadir. ‘‘Simply because they showed right through the tournament that they not only have enormous talent, they are also good at handling pressure.’’

Today’s final followed the pattern of the tournament: the advantage lay with the side batting first. Khaled Latif didn’t hesitate to put on his pads after winning the toss. The pitch was a dud as far as fast bowling was concerned, and the Pak openers made the most of the conditions and some wayward stuff from West Indies international Ravi Rampaul to start with.

The most significant contributions came from Asif Iqbal (54) and Qadir (42). The partnership realised 97 for the fourth wicket and helped Pakistan to a strong 230 for 9. As would have been expected of the Pak spin stars, it was the West Indian spinners Rishi Bechan, Zamal Khan and Liam Sebastian who did most of the damage in the first half of the match. Bechan, who picked three of the first four wickets, ended with three for 34, with Zamal picking one for 35 and Sebastian one for 44.

If the West Indians felt they had given away about 25 runs too many, they were proved right. The two main problems in their run chase promised to be their poor running between the wickets right through the meet and the Pak spiners Mahmood (3-34), Amjad (0-27), Mirza (2-29) and Qadir (0-33).

After a solid opening stance, Kamikaze Kid Tishan Maraj repeated the same daftness he showed in the semi-final against England to go for a non-existent single. The trend continued as the innings produced four run-outs and the strong, steely web Mahmood and Amjad spun for the Caribs.

The chase was always on with the required rate never going out of hand, but the wickets continued tumbling and that turned out to be the bane for the losers, who ran out of steam 25 runs short of the Pakistan score.

What the West Indians would take back from the tournament, though, is a sign that things might get better on the seniors’ front, where the team has failed consistently since their golden age got over in the late 1980s.

Coach Clyde Butts said as much after the match. ‘‘Yes, people back home in the Caribbean will be extremely proud of the achievement. We lost, yes, but that doesn’t take away the fact that we played well without many major stars and improved as the tournament wore on. The biggest advantage we have, as far as the future is concerned, is that all the players contributed in bits. I suppose as these boys get more experience things will get better.’’

Brief scores

Pakistan: 230-9 in 50 overs (Asif Iqbal 54, Salman Qadir 42, Adnan Zaheer 33, Rishi Bachan 3-34, Mervin Mathew 2-35) vs West Indies: 205 in 47.1 overs (Denesh Ramdin 36, Tishan Maraj 32, Tariq Mahmood 3-34, Jahangir Mirza 2-29).