Pakistan vs West Indies, 2nd T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Babar Azamends with 97 to his name but nonetheless, this has been a special knock from him as Pakistan continued to beat Windies to pulp, second day in a row. After Pakistan lost opener Fakhar Zaman early, Babar and Hussain Talat added 119 runs for the second wicket to get the momentum back for the hosts. Even when Talat departed after his fifty, Babar continued to unleash delightful strokes and was accompanied by a free-flowing Shoaib Malik. 205 is another steep total and this Windies side will need something extraordinary from their batsmen to chase it down...

Babar Azam moves onto 95 with that swipe across the line to long on for four, five needed, four balls to go... and alas, a single now...

Five deliveries to go, Babar Azam is on 91, just nine away... The crowd is ramping up the volume here

Two sixes and a four already for the T20 specialist for Shoaib Malik. Does he ever need a look-in in this format? One wonders. He's middled the ball right from the word go...

Babar Azam isn't done yet...

Not the first time in the evening that Babar Azam has gone after Emrit, hitting him for two boundaries again, this time in the 15th over. So, the dismissal of Talat not really affecting the other set batsman. And then Kesrick Williams is tonked, for a six. Slower delivery spotted early and Babar lifts it comfortably over the on-side boundary for a six. Is he headed towards a hundred here?

And Talat departs...

Short and wide, begging to be cut. Talat went all out for that and didn't bother keeping it down, Jason Mohammed timed his jump well and took a sharp catch to end a fine partnership of 119 runs for the second wicket.

Fifties for the duo

They are on a roll and Windies are finding it very hard to stop their progress. The batsmen reach their milestones in the span of five deliveries and with almost eight overs to go, this is going to be a long night for the Windies again.

Trouble for debutant Odean Smith

He seems clueless at the moment. First a short ball that Talat guided down to third man for four. Next is a gentle good length ball outside off but Babar just helped it on its way for another four. If two fours weren't enough, Babar smashed one wide of long on where a fumble fetched the third four of the over. The third big over of the innings. Pakistan are going at 9 an over at the halfway stage.

With a four off Badree in the seventh over, the duo brought the fifty up for the partnership, off just 32 balls.

Talat, Babar press on the accelerator

It started with Babar as he pounced onto the most minimal of widths outside off, unleashing cracking punches and cuts off the backfoot to collect three fours off the fourth over. That 14-run over immediately turned the momentum in Pakistan's favour, despite losing Zaman early.

Talat then took on Badree, to hit him for a six and a four off consecutive balls in the next over to set runs rolling from his end too.

Early wicket for the Windies

Fakhar Zaman's woes with the short ball angled into him continued as Emrit chose to come from round the wicket immediately. Banged it in but it was going down the leg. Zaman chased it desperately and feathered it to the 'keeper. Poor start for the hosts but the Windies wouldn't mind that, especially after the hammering last night.

Elevens

Windies (Playing XI): Chadwick Walton, Andre Fletcher, Marlon Samuels, Jason Mohammed(c), Denesh Ramdin(w), Rovman Powell, Keemo Paul, Rayad Emrit, Kesrick Williams, Samuel Badree, Odean Smith

Pakistan (Playing XI): Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Hussain Talat, Sarfraz Ahmed(w/c), Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali

Team news

Pakistan remain unchanged whereas the Windies made one change in the form of Odean Smith, who comes in for Veerasammy Permaul.

Toss time, folks

Pakistan have won the toss and elected to bat first

ICYMI: Our correspondent Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi captured the mood of the Karachi loyals through this beautiful narrative. Read it before the ball is set rolling...

Getting started..

Cricket couldn't have returned in a better manner than it did as Pakistan thumped the Windies in as emphatic a manner one can. They first posted 203 on the board, before they bottled the tourists up for 60 - the joint-lowest total for a full member team in a T20I.

What would hurt the tourists further would be the injury to Veerasammy Permaul who misses out with an ankle injury. And with matches on back-to-back days, there's little turnaround time to recover from heavy losses. It's an uphill task at hand and with the crowd in top gear, Windies will find it difficult to turn the tide.