Watch cricket video highlights of West Indies tour of Pakistan 2025. First Test between Pakistan and West Indies. Venue of the match will be Multan.
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So, how would you summarize that? On the third day, 17 wickets were lost in a madcap two-session match. Jomel Warrican recorded the third-best stats for a visiting bowler in Pakistan as Pakistan lost seven for 48. Nevertheless, Pakistan’s spinners had clinched a 127-run victory with 30 minutes to spare before tea, dismissing the West Indies for 123 in 36.3 overs to take a 1-0 series lead.
The main architects, Sajid Khan and Abrar Ahmed, claimed nine of the ten wickets for the West Indies as the visitors’ challenge seemed to vanish along with the durability of the playing strip. Pakistan nearly ensured victory in the 15 overs that West Indies had left before lunch. Realizing that pushing and prodding would not help, the visitors started out with good intentions. As Sajid stated yesterday, the plan was to attack with the ball and defend with the field, but it got them through the first four overs.
Pakistan had a fielder at deep midwicket thanks to Brathwaite’s effective use of the slog sweep, and the opener selected him to provide Pakistan with their first breakthrough. The stumps were constantly in action because to Sajid’s amazing turn-around, particularly to the right-hander from the footmarks, which enabled him clean out Mikyle Louis and Kavem Hodge to lower West Indies to 37 for 4.
When Justin Greaves missed a risky sweep in front of middle stump, Noman Ali, who had strangely not begun the bowling from the other end, stepped into the attack and took a wicket on the stroke of lunch. The first hour after lunch saw a lot of West Indian resistance, chief among them Alick Athanaze, whose half-century, the only such effort the West Indies had made during the whole Test, barely kept them afloat. Athanaze tried to offer the Pakistani spinners as little as possible, initially with Tevin Imlach and later with Kevin Sinclair.
They stopped making aggressive shots, and for the first time in the whole Test, Sajid and Noman didn’t appear to pose a serious threat. However, when Shan Masood turned to Abrar Ahmed, the momentum changed again. His legspin presented a little different test, as Imlach was dismissed by a beauty as the ball drifted in and tore away to remove his outside edge. With some fluctuating bounce and a brilliant diving catch at first slip from Salman Agha, he would also end the next partnership.
Then, Agha took the regulation catch the next ball to send Gudakesh Motie on his way. The resistance in the West Indies was now totally dismantled. Abrar ended the match when the high-risk reverse sweep, which West Indies frequently attempted to handle on this surface, went onto the stumps after Athanaze missed a straight one from Sajid to give Pakistan one. The signs for such a day were present. Saud Shakeel, Pakistan’s top spinner, nicked one into the palms of short midwicket and fell off the first delivery.
Pakistan’s batsmen were having a difficult time on a surface whose grip and turn were becoming increasingly unpredictable. Warrican followed it up with the wicket of Rizwan in the next over. Up until that point, Kamran Ghulam had hanging around, but Warrican’s additional turn gave him his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket. As Warrican gained confidence, the West Indies started to dig into the tail. He tried a reverse sweep and changed speed to trap Noman in front of the stumps.
When Sajid made a mistake with a slog and got an edge to backward point, he made it seven. Warrican’s report did not immediately reflect the ninth wicket, but it may as well have. Warrican took up cleanly and struck the stumps directly, trapping Khurram Shahzad far out of his crease after Agha poked one at him on the off side and tried to single. When Agha attempted to hit Motie over the top but was unsuccessful, the innings ended with Pakistan out for 157. However, it was still more than plenty on a surface like this and with Pakistan’s spinners.