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

The third Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies was a historic one for the latter as they clinched a 5-wicket win on the first session of the final day’s play, something that was most unprecedented. Shane Dowrich, the wicketkeeper-batsman slammed the ball into the fence as the ball raced away to the fence as the final day’s play saw the smooth sailing Windies go on to complete a win. As far as Jason Holder will be concerned, this is his first overseas Test win in overseas conditions. Kraigg Brathwaite and Devendra Bishoo were clearly the stars of the show. While there were a few talking points from the match, here are five of the most prominent talking points.

1. Half-centuries from Pakistan batsmen set the tone for the match

The first day’s play saw some impressive batting from the Pakistan batsmen in tandem. Of course, there were those players who failed quite miserably when the important wickets of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq fell. However, Sami Aslam and Younis Khan leveraged some mistakes from the likes of Shane Dowrich and the rest when the saved Pakistan from their blushes. Aslam and Younis slammed 74 and 51 respectively. However, the Pakistan revival crusade did not end there as the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq and Sarfraz Ahmed slammed 53 and 51 respectively to gather the pieces for the hosts and take them into a zone of safety.

2. Devendra Bishoo gets the much-needed breakthroughs

Devendra Bishoo made a name for himself in the opening part of the series when he claimed an 8-wicket haul with the pink ball in the first match. However, the fact of the matter remained that Bishoo impressed quite a bit with the ball in the first innings when he handed the Windies with some important breakthroughs. He first dismissed Sami Aslam before claiming the wickets of skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Nawaz. In the second innings, Bishoo once again reprised the similar role as he dismissed Azhar Ali after the latter slammed 91. Sarfraz Ahmed also fell for 42 as Bishoo went on to become the unsung hero for the Windies.

3. Kraigg Brathwaite’s well-documented resilience impresses one and all

Prior to the start of the match, Kraigg Brathwaite was a 23-year old vice-captain in name. Of course, this was something that significantly changed once the youngster proved his mettle against the pace and spin of Wahab Riaz and Devendra Bishoo respectively. He stood his ground each time the ball spun a country mile or was banged in short as he was seemingly determined in his crusade to impress with the bat. He remained unbeaten in the first innings of 142 and then went on to slam 60 runs in the second innings and remain unbeaten there as well. Thus, his man of the match was more than justified.

4. Jason Holder rolls the years back to the ‘chin-music’ era

Jason Holder, as captain of the West Indies has been quite a terrible one to say the least. In spite of making it slightly bigger in the ODI format, the fact of the matter remained that he had just the one Test win under his belt as skipper and even that came against Bangladesh, a side striving to make it big on the cricketing stage. However, Jason Holder led by example in the final Test at Sharjah when he rolled back the years with some impressive short-pitched bowling. He claimed five wickets in the second innings despite his delicate pace of 70 mph.

5. Windies claim first overseas win in eight years

The last time the West Indies won a Test match overseas was 8 years and 311 days earlier when they clinched a win against South Africa at Port Elizabeth. Moreover, there was only one surviving member from the side that won in South Africa and this was Marlon Samuels. When Shane Dowrich’s top-edge flew over the slip cordon and into the third man fence, it was clear that the Windies had clinched their win they so desperately wanted. Roddy Eastwick, the West Indies coach had tears in his eyes while Jason Holder too had an emotional moment before making his way out into the field of play.