Published: Apr 22, 2017, 05:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 22, 2017, 05:00 PM (IST)
West Indies lower-order displayed great determination against a probing Pakistan seam bowling attack to defy their domination on Day One’s proceedings at Kingston, Jamaica. Put in to bat first, West Indies were tottering at 71 for 5 at one stage, but sensible batting from Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich helped West Indies to put up a decent score on the board. Pakistan did bounce back against the run of play as Yasir Shah took both their wickets on consecutive deliveries. But despite this, West Indies skipper Jason Holder and Devendra Bishoo played some great strokes towards the end of day’s play to put West Indies a few paces ahead of Pakistan. Live Cricket Scorecard, Pakistan vs West Indies 2017, 1st Test at Jamaica
With the second day’s play all to play for, Pakistan will be hoping to get rid of the West Indies tail as quickly as they can. Pakistan displayed great intent early in getting the top-order very quickly in the first session. The way things went by for Misbah-ul-Haq and his men, it looked just a matter of time before the West Indies innings would collapse against Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Abbas and Wahab Riaz. But, some patient display of batting from Chase and Dowrich pulled things back in visitor’s favour.
Misbah, after not getting wickets through his seamers went to his ace-spinner Yasir, only to get disappointed. Yasir looked futile and gave away too many loose deliveries, releasing all the initially-built pressure. Yasir ended Day One with 2 wickets but had to concede 91 runs in his 24 overs. PAK vs WI, 1st Test, Day 1: Chase and Dowrich lead hosts’ fightback
Pakistan will have to stick to basics and come up with a new plan to get the remaining 3 wickets in the first hour of play. They gave away too much room to the hosts and hence had to see West Indies scoring 244 runs whereas at one point 150 looked impossible.
On the other hand, West Indies will be happy with the way Day One panned out for them. From 71 for 5, they have recovered to post 244 for 7 which they will be happy to take at any point in this game. The motive for Holder and the remaining batsmen would be clear: to score as many runs as they can. Anything in between the region of 270-280 and they will have an at-par score in the first innings. PAK vs WI, 1st Test, Day 1: Aamer, Abbas’ early damage, Wahab’s stunner and other highlights
Holder will have to ensure of not letting his wicket go away too easily on the second morning. He is the only recognised player who can bat and hence the onus will be on him to guide his team in the 270-run corridor or may be evgen 300 if possible.
Moreover, West Indies will also try emulating the same bowling performance which Pakistan did with their pacers. The hosts have Shannon Gabriel at their service leading the bowling attack. Gabriel will have to ensure of tightening the screws on the strong looking Pakistan batting from early on.
He also has a strong partner Alzarri Joseph to share the new ball with and these two will have to ensure of getting wickets early on to put pressure on Pakistan and keep their dominance.
But keeping all these factors in mind, we should just hope that rain does not play a spoilsport.
