PAK v WI 3rd Test Review: Brathwaitefied West Indies secure a memorable victory

The last day of the Sharjah Test was expected to be a spicy affair. While West Indies were in full control of the proceedings in the last part of their batting session yesterday with Kraigg Brathwaite and Shane Dowrich going along pretty well; there was a sense that Pakistan would come hard the next morning as they know an early breakthrough can well open the game up.

But nothing of that sort happened as both Brathwaite and Dowrich went about the task quite professionally and took the team over the line after batting for just 7.2 overs in the morning. With that, West Indies beat Pakistan by 5 wickets in the last Test to avoid a clean sweep of clean sweeps having already lost the T20I and ODI series 6-0 and the Test series 2-0. Jason Holder registered the first Test victory as West Indies captain, having led the side in 14 matches and this is also the team’s first win outside home and Bangladesh since 2007.

A lot of credit for this will go to Brathwaite and the way he batted in both the innings, having fielded for almost the entire duration of Pakistan’s batting inning he carried his bat in West Indies’ first inning remaining unbeaten on 142 from 318 balls his marathon knock saw him occupy the crease for 495 minutes. He was back on the field again when Pakistan batted and once again opened the batting for his team as soon as they bowled out Pakistan for 208.

He displayed commendable patience, maturity and understanding of the situation. At no point did it appear like he was running out of patience. His determination to bat through in both the innings was one of the major reasons West Indies managed to beat Pakistan in this game. He remained unbeaten on 60 as Dowrich slashed a boundary towards third man off Mohammad Amir to take the team home. That also earned Brathwaite a unique record of becoming the first opener to remain unbeaten in both the innings of a Test match.

Also read- Pakistan v West Indies, 3rd Test: 5 Talking Points

The series has been a huge learning experience for the West Indies though the scoreline reads 2-1 it was definitely closer than that. Had they cashed on the crucial moments in the first two Tests things would have been different. The visitors have a lot of positives to take back home from the Test series. Darren Bravo’s show of character, Roston Chase’s development as an all-rounder, skipper Jason Holder leading them from the front and Brathwaite’s maturity as a Test opener.

It’s a side in transition that is marred by a lot of off-field incidents as well and a win like this against a top Test team like Pakistan in the subcontinent will do a world of good and we will see the Braovs and the Brathwaties carry the confidence and charm associated with Caribbean cricket more often.

Having scored over 200 runs in the Test match Kraigg was awarded the Man of the Match for his performance while Yasir Shah who bagged 21 wickets in the 3 games took the Play of the Series award.

Brief Scores:

Pakistan: 1st innings – 281/10 (S Aslam 74; D Bishoo 4/77)

2nd innings – 208/10 (A Ali 91; J Holder 5/30)

West Indies: 1st innings – 337/10 (K Brathwaite 142*; W Riaz 5/88)

2nd innings – 154/5 (K Brathwaite 60*, S Dowrich 60*; Y Shah 3/40)