PAK v WI, 3rd Test Day 2 Review: Kraigg Brathwaite leads West Indies fightback

Vice-captaincy of the West Indies was hardly a burden for Kraigg Brathwaite as he stood his ground and slammed his way to a well-deserved 95. However, in spite of the this, the Windies remain to be a few runs shy of the Pakistan total, something they will be achieving for the first time this series, should they complete it of course.

The day, however, began with the last two wickets falling to the West Indian pacer Alzarri Joseph. The 20-year old, however, received little or no support from the other pacers as the Pakistan tail wagged in the first portion of the morning session. The duo of Yasir Shah and Mohammad Amir impressed as they added 26 runs in the morning.

While Jason Holder was certainly pleased with the fact that the Windies had bowled the hosts out for with a score of 300, little did he know what was to come soon after. The plan as far as the Windies were concerned was to take the fight to the opposition with the solidity of their defense.

Needless to say, the solidity was well and truly breached when Mohammad Amir decided to run through the batting unit of the West Indies. However, before that, there was a quick outburst from Wahab Riaz before Amir could get his act together.

Riaz huffed and puffed his way to find the knee-roll of Leon Johnson, something that quite effectively sent the latter back into the haven of the dressing room. Zulfiqar Babar then went ahead and removed Darren Bravo.

The wicket was much more significant when this proved to be the first wicket when Mohammad Amir completed his first Test match catch, something that got the monkey off his back. It has therefore taken 20 Test matches to get Mohammad Amir a catch in Test cricket.

Kraigg Brathwaite then went on to play perhaps the most important innings of his life, something that was most unprecedented. West Indies fought back to a respectable position as Kraigg Brathwaite’s 12th Test fifty steered the side through a second session in which they added 103 runs for the sole loss of Jermaine Blackwood. With Roston Chase, Brathwaite put on an unbroken 73 for the fifth wicket to leave West Indies 140 short of Pakistan’s 281 by tea.

With Roston Chase, Brathwaite put on an unbroken 73 for the fifth wicket to leave West Indies 140 short of Pakistan’s 281 by tea. However, the post-tea session was to have a much more controlled bowling from Mohammad Amir.

Also read – Pakistan v West Indies, 3rd Test, Day 2 – 5 Talking Points

The southpaw had clearly ensured that there was going to be little or no margin for error. He bowled interchanging lines and lengths, something that troubled most batsmen and yielded the most number of wickets.

The first to depart was Jermaine Blackwood who was snapped up by Asad Shafiq and Roston Chase who was then removed by the safe hands of Younis Khan at slip. Shane Dowrich was the last casualty on the close of play with some impressive batting, to say the least. He was cleaned up by the impressive Wahab Riaz.

Brief Scores:

Pakistan, 1st innings: 281 all out

West Indies, 1st innings: 244/6 (K Brathwaite 95*; M Amir 2/44)