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Pakistan vs West Indies, 2nd Test, Day 3, Preview and Prediction: Visitors eye victory

Pakistan will have an upper hand on the Day Three as they are still leading by 346 runs while the visitors have lost 4 wickets already.

Pakistan players look on as they wait for TV reply with West Indian batsmen (R) © Getty Images
Pakistan players look on as they wait for TV reply with West Indian batsmen (R) © Getty Images

Pakistan will be going on the field with an upper hand when they take to field on the Day Three of the second Test which is being played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. West Indies were on course even after they lost their opener Leon Johnson early into the game at the start of the last session. Zulfiqar Babar trapped Johnson Plumb as the he was getting a reverse swing from the new ball which the hosts took immediately after the beginning of the last session. But the two wickets of well-settled batsmen Marlon Samuels and Kraigg Brathwaite in the second last and last over of the day crumbled the West Indies innings after a promising start.   FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs West Indies, 2nd Test at Abu Dhabi

Pakistan has been the dominant team in the series throughout. Their domination was completely evident since the Day One’s first session. The initial loosing of two wickets which were followed by a partnership between Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq took the hosts out of a tight spot. The wicket of Shafiq drew some tension in the Pakistan camp, but their skipper who walked in after Shafiq’s wicket along with well-settled Younis just took the game away from West Indies. Younis got out in a disappointing fashion which was also the last ball of the day. When Day two started, the hosts’ skipper was on unbeaten 90 and was inching, yes should be called as ‘inching’ because he was moving to his 11th Test hundred in no hurry. But was came out surprising was Yasir Shah who had come in as night watchman being audacious. We do see the night watchman flinging his bat against any ball which comes towards him, but Yasir was completely opposite. He played an attacking knock of23 runs from 31 balls which consisted 3 well-timed boundaries. He did survive one close call of LBW, as he jumped while trying to flick the ball from past the wicket keeper. After this, he drove the ball through covers to again displaying some great batting. READ:Pakistan vs West Indies, 2nd Test, Day Report: Hosts tighten screws on inconsistent visitors

And then completely against the run of play, Shannon Gabriel trapped Misbah in his pads while he mistimed a flick. The ball was hitting the leg stump if not Misbah’s pads. Latter Yasir too departed quickly and then there was a partnership of 70 runs between Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz which took Pakistan beyond 400. It was then Sohail Khan’s short but attacking cameo which took Pakistan to the mammoth total of 452. Gabriel took his maiden 5-for which helped West Indies pull the hosts back.

West Indies started off well but lost their opener, Leon Johnson, first. It was rather a good surprise that came from West Indies as they brought up Darren Bravo up the order who played extremely well as he opened up the innings. He played a stern knock of 43 runs from 85 balls which consisted 6 beautifully struck boundaries. But Yasir Shah came in for Pakistan’s help as he removed Bravo who was looking all set to get to his half-century. Marlon Samuels and Kraigg Brathwaite played very responsibly later on but the persistence from Pakistani spinners Yasir and Rahat Ali saw first Samuels edging the ball to first slip. This was something which the hosts would not have wanted at all in the last overs of the match. The situation turned worse for the visitors when Brathwaite was run-out and that saw West Indies lose two well-settled batsmen in 2 consecutive balls.

Truth to be told, West Indies need to pull out a miracle now if they want to save this match. The way they lost two wickets in the last overs of the match has actually put their best batsmen they have back in the dressing room. The pitch is expected to turn and assist Yasir and Rahat tomorrow and the visitors may even undergo Follow-on if they fail to score the needed runs. They are still trailing the total of 452 by 346 runs with 6 wickets in hand. Zulfiqar Babar and Sohail Khan have handled the job of restricting the flow of runs perfectly and the spinners have done the job of picking wickets. If the Pakistan bowling unit continues to ball in the same manner, West Indies team may soon be getting bundled out well in the first session itself, which will make Pakistan cruise towards the victory of this Test and also the series very quickly.

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