Pakistan crumbled for the second consecutive day to the West Indies pace attack, losing the first Test of a two-match series by 90 runs on the fourth day in Trinidad on Tuesday.
Set a tricky target of 211 on a deteriorating surface, the tourists were never in contention and were all out for 120 off 40.2 overs just after tea.
It could have been worse. When they subsided to 71 for nine, Pakistan seemed doomed to their lowest Test innings total against the West Indies.
Bowling hero Mohammad Abbas hung around with captain Babar Azam to put on 49 runs for the last wicket before Jayden Seales ended the match by trapping Abbas leg-before for 23, finishing with figures of five for 20.
Babar remained unbeaten on 58.
Pakistan will go into the second and final Test a few miles away at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, starting Sunday, on the back of four consecutive defeats and an extended abysmal run of 13 losses in their last 17 Tests.
This was also the eighth consecutive Test loss away from home.
Their capitulation was a repeat of events of the third day when they lost seven wickets for 38 runs, sliding from 244 for three to 282 all out to concede a 29-run first innings deficit.
‘Being disciplined’
Pakistan fought back with the ball late on day three, but West Indies rallied to a second innings total of 181, adding 55 runs on the fourth morning on the back of an adventurous 38 off 27 balls (four sixes and one four) from Shamar Joseph.
Even after the innings was wrapped up by Abbas – who finished with the excellent figures of five for 22 – the Pakistan players’ body language in the field increasingly suggested the target well beyond their reach, especially with former captain Shan Masood hampered by a fractured finger sustained during his first innings century.
He bravely came out with the innings in ruins at 58 for six only to become one of Seales’ victims, taken a backward point by Joseph.
On the day when the late, great all-rounder Garfield Sobers would have turned 90, the latest follower in his footsteps, fellow-Barbadian Justin Greaves, picked up two wickets to finish with match figures of seven for 39 and earn the “Player of the Match” award.
“It was just about being disciplined,” said Greaves. “From watching Mohammad Abbas in both the first and second innings, we tried to mimic that and it pretty much worked out well for us.”
Babar was honest about his team’s batting frailties.
“This surface is good. We have to expect it to be a bit up and down at this stage and also the movement with the new ball. We prepared for this,” he said. “But they bowled very well, using the conditions, and we just couldn’t get a partnership going.”
West Indies captain Roston Chase enjoyed his second Test win in three matches after going more than a year without success after his appointment.
“I love how this team is going,” he said. “We’re not depending on one or two guys solely. Everyone is chipping in at crucial times.”
Source: Khaleej Times