Published: May 04, 2017, 03:44 AM (IST)
Edited: May 04, 2017, 03:44 AM (IST)
Yasir Shah is a second innings giant for Pakistan. He lived up to his reputation. At wee hours of Day 4, Yasir claimed 6 wickets for 90 runs to ram the West Indies fightback. West Indies closed Day Four at 264 for 9, managing a lead of 183 runs. At one point West Indies were riding high at 235 for 4 with Shai Hope (90) and Vishaul Singh (32) having put up 80 runs for the fourth wicket. But then Yasir did the trick and got rid of Hope and what followed later was a typical West Indies collapse. West Indies lost their 5 wickets for 29 runs in the closing stages of the day and scoring total 67 runs in 32 overs bowled in the last session. Full Cricket Scorecard, Pakistan vs West Indies, 2nd Test at Barbados
Contrasting to these figures, West Indies started the last session of the penultimate day at 197 for 4 with Hope and Vishaul being absolutely resolute against Pakistan bowling attack. This batting pair defied Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Abbas with the swinging ball. They even defied Yasir and Shadab Khan who tried their best to pitch the ball in the rough patches to get some purchase. But none of this helped, Misbah-ul-Haq as this partnership started growing slowly and steadily and also the problems for Pakistan.
Misbah even tried bowling from Azhar Ali to see if the part-time spinner could do some trick. But given the amount of time Hope and Vishaul have spent of the crease, nothing seemed to deter them. Scoring became fast and thick as the end of the day’s play approached. Utilising the tired Pakistani legs around, Hope and Singh displayed some late cuts, cracking drives and even sneaky singles giving Team Misbah a hard time at office.
Despite not getting any wicket for more than a session, Misbah kept on persisting with Yasir. And finally the breakthrough came for Pakistan for they had got the all important wicket of Hope.
Hope had thrown away his wicket against the run of play and he could not believe what he had done – for he had missed what would have been a worthwhile maiden Test century by just 7 runs. Also he had given the cunning Yasir and Pakistan a chance to drill through the West Indies lower order and tail.
Hope was dismissed on the last delivery off Yasir’s over but there still was some respite for West Indies as Vishaul was in the middle and he looked comfortable. But Abbas cleaned up the middle and off stump off Singh giving a subtle hint of what was about to happen.
West Indies had lost two set batsmen on consecutive deliveries with a lead of 154 runs on the board. Their job of setting a lead of around 200 was yet to be done but still had hopes as Jason Holder and Shane Dowrich were in the middle. But again, Yasir foxed Holder (1) which saw Younis Khan taking a stunner at first slip.
Dowrich and Devendra Bishoo put some stop to the downfall for eight deliveries. In this they managed to score 16 runs taking West Indies close to 200-mark. But again, Yasir trapped Dowrich (2) registering his five wicket haul – overall 10th of his career.
But he wasn’t done for the day as he got rid of Alzarri Joseph (7) in his last over of the day to complete a six-for.
With just one wicket in hand, Bishoo (16) will look to add some runs on the board to take the West Indies lead beyond the 200-run mark to try and pin down Pakistan on Day Five.
Earlier in the day, West Indies resumed from their overnight score of 40 for 1 with Kraigg Brathwaite and Shimron Hetmyer at the crease. But Aamer struck early on in the day to get rid of Hetmyer (22). Hope who walked in after Hetmyer’s dismissal constructed a 56-run stand with Brathwaite (43) before the opener was dismissed by Yasir – his first wicket of the innings.
Centurion Roston Chase (23) and Hope continued to frustrate Pakistan for the rest of the day as they both scored 58 runs together before Yasir caught Chase off his own bowling.
Brief scores:
West Indies 312 and 264 for 9 (Kraigg Brathwaite 43, Shai Hope 90, Vishaul Singh 32; Yasir Shah 6 for 90, Mohammad Abbas 2 for 57) lead Pakistan 393 (Azhar Ali 104, Misbah-ul-Haq 99; Devendra Bishoo 3 for 104, Jason Holder 2 for 23) by 183 runs.
