PAK v WI 3rd Test, Day 4 Review: West Indies 39 short of a famous Test win

Pakistan were in a tricky position at the end of day 3 while they had a well-set pair of Azhar Ali and Sarfaraz Ahmed at the crease, that was all they had in the arsenal. Both Azhar and Sarfaraz ran hard between wickets and didn’t let scoring opportunities pass by. They batted together for more than 23 overs and added 86 runs to the score.

Sarfaraz had himself to blame for his dismissal as he played an irresponsible shot on a Devendra Bishoo delivery on the individual score of 42. They went to Lunch with Azhar and Mohammad Nawaz at the crease while they had 159 runs on the board and 5 wickets in hand as the overall lead went past the 100-run mark.

Things got worse for Pakistan in the post Lunch session as they lost all the five wickets in hand with the addition of just 33 runs to the total. Bishoo struck first as he was successful in finding an edge of Nawaz’s bat to be caught by Leon Johnson at short leg. The next wicket was that of the big fish Azhar Ali who had batted brilliantly for his 91 as he played some beautiful drives but was guilty of trying a bit too much on a single delivery which saw him make his way back to the pavilion.

Now the Pakistani tale was in the middle and West Indies were eager to finish it off. Mohammad Amir chose to go for the big shot and then stood admiring his shot and clearly underestimated the fielder Roston Chase at the long-on boundary. He was caught well short of the crease when Chase first stopped the ball, went over the ropes, threw it back and Holder dislodged the bails. It was a hilarious dismissal for the viewers while it made matters worse for Pakistan.

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West Indies skipper Jason Holder who had inflicted most of the damage to the hosts on day 3 then returned to clean up Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah to complete the first five-wicket haul of his Test career. Pakistan were all done for 208 and the target for West Indies was 153; Holder being the pick of the bowlers had figures of 17.3-5-30-5.

For the record, the Caribbean team has never lost a Test while chasing anything under 200 and when Kraigg Brathwaite and Leon Johnson walked out to start the chase just a few overs ahead of Tea they definitely knew it was their best chance to beat Pakistan in the subcontinent. Mohammad Amir having embarrassed himself for the way he was run out charged in and was successful in inducing an edge off Johnson’s bat but skipper Misbah-ul-Haq standing at third slip put down a straight forward catch. The batsman had his second life when Sami Aslam dropped him in Amir’s next over at first slip.

By this time it looked like West Indies were destined to win this one. Misbah introduced Yasir Shah in the post Tea session and he trapped Johnson for 12. Darren Bravo the most stubborn of the lot couldn’t do much as wicketkeeper Sarfaraz took him off Yasir. The leggie earned his third wicket in the form of Marlong Samules who could just score 10.

Wahab Riaz then took the lead from their ace spinner and handed West Indies two major blows in the form of Jermaine Blackwood who was bowled and Roston Chase who was caught by Nawaz. Brathwaite who had carried his bat in the first inning was watching all this from the other end. At last, he found a reliable partner in Shane Dowrich who showed the right amount of patience and application to defy the Pakistani bowlers of any further wicket and at the same time added runs to the total which brought the chase well within reach for them.

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At stumps Brathwaite was unbeaten on 44 while Dowrich had add 36 runs, Windies need another 39 runs with 5 wickets in hand to give Holder his first win as West Indies Test skipper.

Brief Scores:

Pakistan: 208/10 (A Ali 91; J Holder 5/30)

West Indies: 114/5 (K Brathwaite 44*, S Dowrich 36*; Y Shah 3/30)