West Indies v Pakistan, 1st Test, Day 5 Review: Visitors draw first blood as hosts surrender meekly

The visiting Pakistan side drew first blood in the 3-match Test series against West Indies. It was a 6-wicket haul from Yasir Shah in the second innings that bundled out West Indies for a mere 152. With a target of just 32, the Misbah Ul-Haq led side made it a short work to take a 1-0 lead in the series. It is hard to comprehend what went wrong for the hosts in the game – whether it was the batting that led the bowling down or was it the poor bowling that led the batting down.

The curious case of West Indies Test cricket continues to trouble many. The hosts resumed the final day play at 93/4 with Devendra Bishoo and Vishaul Singh as the two night-watchmen at the crease. Both players showed brief resistance at the crease and tried their best to see the new bowlers through. The resistance was broken in the 8th over of the day when Vishaul Singh was cleaned up by Mohammad Amir.

Roston Chase, the man who scored a fifty in the first innings, came to the crease. He lost the support of Devendra Bishoo soon when the latter was dismissed on 18 by Mohammad Abbas. Shane Dowrich, another star from the first innings, lasted just 2 deliveries before becoming Abbas’ second scalp of Abbas. Jason Holder and Chase could not do much either and perished on 14 and 16 respectively.

Yasir Shah, who had picked up four wickets on day 4, finished things off for Pakistan by scalping the final two wickets. He finished with figures of 6/63 in the innings as West Indies bundled out for 152. The target for the visitors was a mere 32. The visitors had a brief hiccup in the run chase though. They ended up losing three wickets before Misbah Ul Haq capped things off with two sixes to win the game by 7 wickets. They now have 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.

Earlier in the game, it was Pakistani skipper Misbah Ul Haq who had asked West Indies to bat first. Mohammad Amir was the star of the show as he scalped a six-wicket haul on day 2 of the game. It was because of the fifties from Jason Holder, Shane Dowrich, and Roston Chase that the hosts could post 286 runs on the board. In reply, the visitors were led firmly by half-centuries from Babar Azam, Younis Khan, and Misbah Ul Haq.

Misbah was unlucky to find himself stranded on 99 as Pakistan were bowled out for 407. Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph scalped 3 wickets each in the innings. With a lead of 121, the visitors could sniff a win. The West Indies second innings started off on a low note as Yasir Shah ran through the top order in the final session on day 4 of the Test match. With 4 wickets down by the end of day 4, the match was heading only in one direction.

Brief Scores 

West Indies 1st innings 286 (Roston Chase 63, Shane Dowrich 56, Mohammad, Amir 6/44, Yasir Shah 2/91)

Pakistan 1st innings 407/10 (Misbah 99*, Azam 72, Joseph 3/71, Gabriel 3/92)

West Indies 2nd innings 152/10 (Powell 49, Heytmer 20, Yasir Shah 6/63, Abbas 2/35)

Pakistan 2nd innings 36/3 (Misbah 12*, Joseph 1/6)

Check out – Full scorecard here.