Pakistan v West Indies, 3rd Test, Day 2 - 5 Talking Points

After the day 1 finished in the balance at 255/8, Pakistan continued their first innings on day 2 of the third and final Test against West Indies. Pakistan would have hoped for some quick runs from the lower order while West Indies was looking to rap things up soon.

The tail-enders did not offer too much resistance and were back in the hut in a while. Pakistan’s first innings ended at 281 with the highest scorer being Sami Aslam with 74 runs. West Indies bowlers did well to reduce the score to the lowest amongst all the first innings of the hosts.

West Indies did not get off to a great start as first 4 wickets fell for just 68 runs. But Kraigg Brathwaite bailed the team out of trouble with a magnificent 95 not out. His solid batting along with Chase and Dowrich enabled the team to stay in the match at the end of day 2.

Here are the 5 major talking points from the second day’s play:

West Indies did not waste much time to dismiss Pakistan

The second new ball was on offer at the start of the day’s play and West Indies took it immediately. Initially, it was given to Shannon Gabriel and Devendra Bishoo but none of them provided a breakthrough. It was only after 5 overs that Alzarri Joseph was introduced into the attack and the 19-year-old struck twice in his second over of the spell. He bowled Amir and Shah in a span of 5 balls to end the Pakistani innings at 281 runs.

West Indies suffered early blows

After restricting Pakistan to a mediocre first innings total, West Indies needed a good effort with the bat to restore some pride in the series. But they got off to a poor start as Leon Johnson had to walk back to the pavilion in just the 4th over courtesy Wahab Riaz. The star player in the series for West Indies Darren Bravo followed soon for just 11 runs. Marlon Samuels continued on his poor run as he failed to trouble the scorers. Jermaine Blackwood made run a ball 23 before holding out in the 23rd over as West Indies was left reeling at 68/4.

Brathwaite-Chase partnership to the rescue

The early losses were overcome by the duo of Kraigg Brathwaite and Roston Chase. For the 5th wicket, both added 83 runs and stabilized a struggling innings. Both played sensible cricket which was the need of the hour as far as the team was concerned. Their innings contrasted each other perfectly as Chase went after the bowling from time to time while Brathwaite looked to extend his stay at the crease. Chase reached the score of 50 and immediately got out in the 49th over when the score read 151/5.

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A combined bowling effort from Pakistan

The bowling from the Pakistani bowlers was disciplined for most part of the innings. Every single of their regular 4 bowlers chipped in with wickets and bowled almost same amount of overs. Wahab Riaz drew the first blood by dismissing Johnson in the 4th over and then came back to claim the last wicket of the day in the form of Shane Dowrich. Mohammad Amir had the better of Blackwood and Chase as he cut short two building innings. The spinners Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar bagged one wicket apiece as they dismissed Samuels and Bravo respectively.

Brathwaite’s gritty knock

The right-handed opening batsman had shown great technique to survive in Test cricket on a few occasions in the past. Here as well, he stole the show and simply refused to give his wicket away. He was patient in his innings of 95 which he took 205 balls to score. He hit just 10 boundaries over a course of close to 3 sessions which shows his temperament in batting. He first combined with Chase and then Dowrich to construct back to back half-century stands. He has a great chance to score his 5th century in Test cricket on day 3. Due to his efforts, West Indies finished with 244/6 at the end of day 2 as the game hangs in balance.