Lunch Pakistan 333 for 6 (Shafique 132*, Sajid 16*, Warrican 3-103) trail West Indies 344 (Greaves 73, Chase 70, Sajid 4-85) by 11 runs
It turns out that Pakistan’s dreaded collapse was merely delayed, not actually thwarted. In a self-destructive session, compounded by West Indies’ vastly improved discipline with the new ball, Pakistan chucked away much of the good work Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam had done in last night. They lost four wickets as run-scoring ground to a standstill, adding just 67 runs in 29 overs. Shafique’s resistance remains unshaken, but with him running out of partners, the visitors are in danger of falling into the same trap that saw them fritter away their advantage in the first Test. All that despite being just 11 away from parity with four wickets in hand.
The first half hour saw Jayden Seales and Jomel Warrican starve Pakistan of runs by consistently nailing their lines. Babar, so positive the previous day, was reticent this morning, adding just 2 runs in 21 deliveries before inexplicably heading off for a single to a packed cover field. Shafique wisely turned him away, but Brandon King picked up sharply and effected a direct hit to catch the Pakistan captain short. It injured King in the process, who required a stretcher to wheel him away, but there was a spring in his team-mates’ step.
Warrican continued to stifle Pakistan, and got his rewards when debutant Awais Zafar showed every bit of his inexperience as he wildly danced down the wicket, failed to get to the pitch of the ball and swung anyway. It rattled his leg stump, but West Indies were only halfway through. Shamar Joseph set Salman Agha up beautifully, moving one out before nipping the next one into his pads, square in front; Pakistan had gone from 281 for 3 to 286 for 5.
Mohammad Rizwan, alongside the unflappable Shafique, offered resistance for a while, but without a sense that momentum could actually turn. West Indies had taken the new ball but trusted Warrican with it, and he deceived Rizwan with an arm ball that kept low and crashed into his stumps. It was a well-deserved way to cap off a session that has, effectively, wiped out the gains the visitors made in the last three hours on Monday.
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