Holder: 'I have a burning desire to make a change, so I keep putting in my best effort'

West Indies had nothing going for them coming into this second T20I on a balmy evening in Lauderhill. They had won just two of their last 19 completed T20Is, which included the forgettable 5-0 loss to Australia at home. They had put down multiple catches in the first T20I. Rovman Powell joined Brandon King, Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer on the injury list, Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran had recently said their goodbyes, and the three-match series was on the line.

If not for a comprehensive team effort, West Indies were looking for something, a semblance of a spark, any individual brilliance to turn things around amid the mounting pressure in the build-up to the T20 World Cup next year. It came, the individual brilliance, and from one of the oldest members in the squad.

At the age of 33, a body that has been through the rigours of 12 years of international cricket as a pace-bowling allrounder, participation in nine T20 leagues around the world and a shoulder rehab not too long ago among other injuries, Jason Holder became West Indies' highest wicket-taker in the format, took stunning figures of 4 for 19, pouched two sharp catches, and hit the winning runs when West Indies had lost all their batting steam and needed three to win off one.

What was Holder going to remember the most from this day? "Just getting over the line, to be honest," he said on being named the Player of the Match. "As I said before, it's been a tough couple of weeks for us. We just needed a win. We brought it down to the very end, unfortunately. But fortunately, we still got over the line."

The most pressure-cooker situation of those must have been when he got the strike back against Shaheen Shah Afridi in the last over of the chase with six to get from three balls. Holder had Shamar Joseph at the other end, and still, inexplicably, took a single when he couldn't put away a low full toss. Shamar, for his part, gave the strike back and it all came down to Holder to hit four runs off the last ball to keep the series alive. He shuffled away to off, Afridi bowled the full delivery well wide of him outside off and the wide signal eased Holder's nerves a little. Next delivery, Holder covered the stumps and this time when Afridi aimed for the stumps, Holder swiped it away behind square for four.

The ball had barely left the 30-yard circle and you could hear Holder's shriek of celebration on the stump mic before the camera turned to him with his arms aloft, accompanied by a roar of celebration. Holder explained what their chasing strategy was when he was batting with Romario Shepherd and they needed 36 from 18.

"I told Romario when we were batting, we needed at least four sixes with the scenario that was posed to us. We got three. We fell probably one short, but we still got over the line. That was our target. Just keeping wickets in hand, obviously, but still trying to hit our strong areas and find the boundary.

"We are powerful players and we know we can find the boundary. But credit to the Pakistani bowlers as well. I thought they bowled really well."

Earlier in the day, Holder had also given West Indies an early lift that also pegged him higher in the record books. Sharing the new ball with Akeal Hosein, Holder struck with his sixth ball when he had the in-form Saim Ayub edge behind and it took him level with the T20 legend Dwayne Bravo on the list of most wickets for West Indies in T20Is. On his third ball after what he later called "just a statistic," Holder had Sahibzada Farhan, the other opener, slicing to deep point for 3. Even when he wasn't bowling, the ball found it hard to stay away from Holder.

When Mohammad Haris went across the line against Hosein in the next over and failed to get the distance for a six, Holder ran back from mid-on, as much as he could, and stretched his long arms with his bucket hands to grab the ball in the nick of time. Pakistan were now three down early and Holder had played a hand in each of those wickets. But Pakistan were not done yet, and hardly did they know that neither was Holder.

Captain Salman Agha and their young basher Hasan Nawaz had put together a quick stand of 60 in just over six overs to power Pakistan past 100, when Holder was brought back. Hasan had just pumped three consecutive sixes in the 15th over, but Holder, who had shown his wares in the middle and death overs in the PSL a few months ago, got Hasan in a tangle, completed the return catch and followed it with his fourth wicket in his last over.

"I love playing for West Indies, to be honest," Holder said. "One of my things is to leave West Indies cricket better than they came and found it. I still think there's a lot of work to be done. We haven't done justice to our potential over the last couple of weeks, maybe the last couple of years. We've had a fair bit of criticism, which at times is warranted, but we know that winning can be a lot better. We've just got to put it together more often than not.

"I think [lack of] consistency has definitely plagued us, but we've seen that over the years that we can do it. For me, it's just to have that burning desire to make a change, to make a difference. So I keep putting in my best effort when I get a chance with the West Indies."