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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan beat the West Indies 2-1 to register yet another T20I series victory over the hosts, with the Green Shirts suffering a setback as injury ruled out left-handed batter Fakhar Zaman from the upcoming ODI series. 

Pakistan put on an impressive 189/4 at the end of 20 overs after batting first in the third T20I, with opening batter Sahibzada Farhan scoring an impressive 74 runs from 53 balls while Saim Ayub made 66 from 49 balls. Hassan Nawaz scored 15 runs from seven balls. 

In response, West Indies were able to score 176/6 at the end of 20 overs, falling 13 runs short of the target. Alick Athanaze scored 60 off 40 balls while Sherfane Rutherford made 51 from 35 balls to give the West Indies a chance. Sufyan Moqim returned figures of 1/20, Mohammad Nawaz 1/33 while pacer Haris Rauf finished with 1/34 from his four overs. 

“Series sealed with a 13-run victory in the final T20I!” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wrote on social media platform X. “Pakistan achieve their seventh consecutive T20I series win over the West Indies.”

There was some setback for Pakistan after Zaman was ruled out of the West Indies third T20I and upcoming ODI series when he suffered a hamstring injury, the PCB said. 

According to the PCB, Zaman picked up the injury during the 19th over of the second T20I against the West Indies while chasing the ball in the outfield. The board said upon medical assessment, it was determined to be a mild strain. It said the aggressive batter had been provided immediate treatment by the team’s medical staff.

“Fakhar will return to Pakistan on the evening of August 4 and will continue his rehabilitation under the supervision of the PCB medical team at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore,” the PCB said. 

Zaman has not fare impressively in the West Indies series, managing scores of 28 and 20 during the first two T20Is. The batter got off to good starts but managed to convert his innings into half-centuries or decisive knocks. 

The batter is a crucial white-ball cricketer for Pakistan, who has gotten them off to dangerous starts in ODIs and T20 formats. Zaman was ruled out of this year’s Champions Trophy tournament after he suffered an oblique injury while in pursuit of a cover drive as Pakistan played against New Zealand in their opening match of the tournament. 

Pakistan and the West Indies kicked off their T20I series last week. After winning the opening match against the hosts, the Green Shirts lost the second match at the last ball before winning the last encounter to take the series home 2-1.

Both teams will play a three-match ODI series starting from August 8 and ending on August 12. All three matches will take place in Trinidad. 

BUDAPEST: Lando Norris held off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on a one-stop strategy and slash the Australian’s Formula One lead to nine points going into the August break.

Norris completed 39 of the 70 laps on a single set of hard tires while Piastri stopped twice and closed a 12-second gap to just 0.6 at the finish, with a nail-biting chase to the chequered flag and a near-collision.

George Russell took a distant third, 20 seconds down the road, to complete the Hungaroring podium for Mercedes and take his fifth podium of the season.

“I’m dead. I’m dead. It was tough,” gasped Norris, who started in third place — with Piastri second — and then went down to fifth after being squeezed at the start.

“We weren’t really planning on the one-stop but after the first lap it was kind of our only option to get back into things.

“I didn’t think it would get us the win, I thought it would get us maybe into second.”

The win was Norris’s fifth of the season, and third in the last four, to Piastri’s six. It was also McLaren’s seventh one-two in 14 races.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was a frustrated fourth, after starting on pole position but losing out with a two-stop strategy and a five-second penalty for erratic driving as Russell challenged.

Fernando Alonso finished fifth for Aston Martin, ahead of Sauber’s sixth-placed Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

Lance Stroll was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, with Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli completing the top 10 scoring positions.

Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, an eight-times winner in Hungary, started in 12th place for Ferrari and finished there.

The Briton was lapped by the leaders six laps from the chequered flag.