Shannon Gabriel – one who was heavily criticised for his no-balls in the first innings – rammed through Pakistan taking 5 wickets and sealing an emphatic 106-run victory for West Indies. Chasing a slender yet tough target of 188 on a Day Five pitch, Team Misbah was bowled out for a paltry 81. The West Indies bowlers thrashed Pakistan brutally, allowing only four batsmen to score in double figures while five batsmen were dismissed for a duck. Apart from Gabriel, skipper Jason Holder took 3 wickets while Alzarri Joseph took 2.
Pakistan were glaring at a defeat which looked approaching very quickly but hopes were still alive for them as they had Ahmed Shehzad and limited-overs captain Sarfraz Ahmed at the crease. Holder opted to keep the pace attack constant. He kept Gabriel and Joseph bowling in tandem as there was aplenty on offer for the pacers. The ball was nipping in back sharply and there was a very little movement which had bothered Pakistan’s veteran batsmen Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq in the first session.
But the wicket kept assisting both pacers, giving Shehzad and Sarfraz tough times. Shehzad was enduring a tough time since the very first ball. There was no flow in his batting as he missed out on various opportunities to drive or cut the ball. But his struggle did not last long as Joseph got things going for West Indies in the second session. The bowler fired it in from well outside off and the bounce was very minimal. Shehzad was pinned down and was given out straightaway. But Shehzad opted for review as Pakistan had the last recognised batting pair at the crease. But the review was wasted as the ball would have hit the leg stump quite comfortably.
In came Shadab Khan – who has a First-Class century against his name. But he too, just like the Pakistan top-order, struggled against the late movements from the ball and he too walked back quickly as Holder had him give wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich a regulation catch. The score read 36 for 7 and Pakistan were glaring at what would have been the most shambolic defeat.
But then came Mohammad Aamer and this gave Pakistan a shift in momentum. Sarfraz and Aamer utilised the pace of the West Indies bowlers. They cleared the close-in fielders and ran 3s. They slashed the ball through cover and point regions to get boundaries. There came a time when catches were dropped in the slip cordon.
Runs came thick and fast for Pakistan and with the target not being a big one, it appeared like Pakistan would win if these two bat the same for another 30 minutes. The partnership of 42 runs in 54 deliveries – the highest in Pakistan’s second innings – pulled the game back in their favour.
It looked like Gabriel, Joseph and Holder exerted themselves and strayed in their line giving away easy runs. Despite this, Holder persisted with Gabriel and Joseph hoping to get the wicket and stop the flow of runs.
Finally, the wicket came and Gabriel was the one to break the partnership. Gabriel tempted Aamer with a loose delivery outside off asking to be hit – because there was Vishaul Singh standing at backward point.
The ploy worked and Aamer was walking back – quite angry having thrown the wicket at a crucial juncture of the game. In came Yasir, who was cleaned up after eight dot deliveries by Gabriel again – his fifth wicket of the innings.
By then, Pakistan’s defeat was assured and with Sarfraz being stranded at the other end, it was quite expected that he would take the aerial route and score if anything at all. But he stepped out against a full delivery from Holder without any timing and gave an easy catch to Roston Chase at wide long-on, thus ending the Pakistan innings.
The three-game series is now tied at 1-1 with the last game of the series and also for Misbah and Younis, to be played at Dominica from May 10.
Brief scores:
West Indies 312 and 268 (Kraigg Brathwaite 43, Shai Hope 90, Vishaul Singh 32; Yasir Shah 7 for 94, Mohammad Abbas 2 for 57) beat Pakistan 393 and 81 (Ahmed Shehzad 23, Mohammad Aamer 20; Shannon Gabriel 5 for 11, Jason Holder 3 for 23) by 106 runs.
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