- Pakistan vs WI, 3rd Test
Sharjah, Nov. 3 (Online): The third Test of the series between Pakistan and West Indies ended in a dramatic way as after having lost the first two Tests, West Indies came back strongly in the final encounter at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Batting first, Pakistan were bowled out for 281 and thanks to Devendra Bishooand Shannon Gabriel’s spell of 4 for 77 and 3 for 67 respectively.
In their reply, West Indies batted strongly with their opener Kraigg Brathwaite being unbeaten till the end, and took a crucial lead of 56 runs by scoring 337. Wahab Riaz was the one to take most wickets for Pakistan, as he scalped 5 for 88 – his second five-for in Tests.
In the second innings, Pakistan were not in the contention to score as they lost their first four wickets at the score of 48. From there on, Azhar Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed added 86 runs for fifth wicket but as soon their partnership ended, Pakistan were all out for 208. West Indies now had to chase only 153 to beat Pakistan. The Caribbeans had an awful start once again as they lost half of their side at a paltry score of 67. At that stage, it looked like Pakistan would pull off a victory, but once again Brathwaite played a heroic innings and ensured West Indies’ win by five wickets. Well, this was not a huge record-breaking match but there were several anonymous and interesting records came into act. Let us take a look:
Kraigg Brathwaite became the first opener to remain unbeaten in both the innings of a Test.
1990 was the last time when West Indies beat Pakistan in a Test outside home. It took more than 25 years for West Indies to claim a victory over Pakistan outside home. In these years, West Indies played 22 Tests against Pakistan and won six out of them. They lost 11 and drew five. All those 6 wins came at their home.
With this victory by 2-1, Misbah has now 10 series wins as captain of Pakistan – most by any Asian captain. Previous record in this criterion was held by MS Dhoni for winning 9 Test series.
This is West Indies’ first win under Jason Holder’s captaincy. It took him 12th Test as captain to claim a victory for West Indies under his leadership.
Excluding West Indies’ wins against Bangladesh in 2012 and 2011, their last victory in a Test playing away from home came in 2007, against South Africa at Port Elizabeth. The beat South Africa by 128 runs in that match.
Jason Holder became sixth West Indian captain to take a 5-wicket haul in a Test after John Goddard, Denis Atkinson, Garry Sobers, Courtney Walsh and Darren Sammy.
Brathwaite became the fifth batsman from West Indies to carry his bat through a Test inningsafter Frank Worrell against England in 1957, Conrad Hunte against Australia in 1965, Desmond Haynes against Pakistan in 1986 and 1993, and against England in 1991, and finally, Chris Gayle against Australia in 2009.
Brathwaite also became the eighth batsman to carry his bat through a Test innings against Pakistan after Sunil Gavasar in 1983, Desmon Haynes in 1986 and 1993, Alec Stewart in 1992, Mark Dekker in 1993, Gary Kirsten in 1997, Grant Flower in 1998 and Tino Mawoyo in 2011. His unbeaten knock of 142 in this Test is the second such instance by a West Indies batsman which came on a winning cause, after Haynes’ 143 not out in 1993, and that too against Pakistan.
52nd win for West Indies while chasing the total of less than 200 in the fourth innings of a Test. They have never lost any Test while chasing below 200. Only England and Australia have more wins in this criterion with 114 and 108 wins.
Devendra Bishoo’s scalped 18 wickets in this series, which is most by any Caribbean bowler in a Test series against Pakistan outside home. Bishoo breaks Colin Croft’s tally of 17 wickets in a Test series against Pakistan outside home, which happened in 1980.
Brathwaite scored 328 runs in this series – third most by a Caribbean batsman in a Test series against Pakistan outside home after Brian Lara (448 runs in 2006) and Viv Richards (364 runs in 1980).
Azhar Ali scored 474 runs in this series, which is the second most by a Pakistani batsman in a Test series against West Indies at home or in a neutral venue after Mohammad Yousuf (665 runs in 2006).
Yasir Shah scalped 21 wickets in this series, which is the joint most by any Pakistani bowler in a Test series against West Indies at home or in a neutral venue along with Fazal Mahmood (21 wickets in 1959) and Wasim Akram (21 wickets in 1990).
Mohammad Aamer took the first catch of his career during this Test. It took him 20 Tests to grab his first catch. He breaks the previous record of having played most Tests before first catch, which was held by Geoff Puller (18 Tests).
Pakistan’s total of 281 in the first innings is the second smallest total in a completed Test innings, which includes four fifty plus scores. New Zealand has the record of scoring smallest total in this criterion of 275, which came against Pakistan in 2011.
