Pakistan reduced to 87/4 after visitors took a 56-run first-innings lead despite Wahab Riaz's five-wicket haul.

By Abdullah Ansari (1st November, 2016)

Toss: Pakistan won the toss, Misbah-ul-Haq chose to bat first.

Teams

Pakistan: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz.

West Indies: KC Brathwaite, LR Johnson, DM Bravo, MN Samuels, J Blackwood, RL Chase, SO Dowrich (wk), JO Holder (c), D Bishoo, ST Gabriel, AS Joseph.

The day began with Brathwaite getting to his ton straight away in just the first over as Pakistan decided to take the new-ball straight away. It was Amir who struck with the new-ball as he went around the wicket and had Holder bowled with an angled delivery. Bishoo came in to bat and looked solid straight away as West Indies went past Pakistan's first-innings score. The batsmen looked comfortable together as Pakistan struggled until Nawaz came on to bowl. Straight away, he troubled the batsmen as Sarfraz put a catch down off Brathwaite. He then had Bishoo caught at short-leg but it turned out the ball hit Azhar Ali's helmet while in the process of taking the catch, meaning that the batsmen survived. The batsmen played out the remaining overs without alarm as West Indies went to lunch with a 33-run lead.

Nawaz and Wahab resumed after the break and it was the latter who made the breakthrough as Bishoo edged a good delivery behind to Sarfraz after making 27. Joseph held out for a few overs as well until he went for a big drive off Wahab and was caught by Yasir at cover. Wahab wrapped up the innings by getting Gabriel caught behind to complete his first five-wicket haul since 2010.

Pakistan's innings began without alarm as the batsmen looked at ease. West Indies took an ambitious review for LBW against Sami but there was a big inside edge. The batsmen finished the 10 overs before tea having made 32 runs, cutting the deficit down to 24.

West Indies began with a different plan after the break as Chase and Holder came on to bowl in tandem as they looked to restrict run-scoring. The strategy looked to be working straight away as the batsmen went into their shell. Pakistan lost their first wicket as Sami hooked a good bouncer by Holder to get caught at fine leg. In his next over, the West Indies captain struck again as Shafiq fended a short ball straight to the man at gully, out for a pair once again after Birmingham. Holder struck yet again in his next over as Younis tried to glance one down the leg-side, getting caught by the keeper. The collapse continued as Misbah pulled a half-tracker by Chase straight to the man at the mid-wicket boundary to leave Pakistan tottering at 48/4. Sarfraz was circumspect as Pakistan slowly went past the deficit into a lead. There was a moment of alarm for him as he edged Gabriel to slip but the no-ball had already been called. The batsmen were understandably cautious owing to the fragile nature of their position in the game as they ended the day at 87/4, just 31 runs ahead with Azhar Ali unbeaten on 45.

Summary: One of the better days for West Indies on this tour. They managed to add 93 runs to the overnight total of 244/6 as Brathwaite showed immense levels of concentration to carry his bat through the innings, making a patient 142*. Pakistan would have been relieved to have limited the lead to 56 as Wahab ran through the tail after Bishoo's resistance but the batsmen let Pakistan down once again as they simply wilted after tea. A massive test awaits tomorrow for Azhar, Sarfraz and the youngster Nawaz. West Indies are in a very good position in the match, just one or two wickets away from the Pakistan tail.

Fall of wickets:

7-263 (Holder, 82.4 ov)
8-323 (Bishoo, 109.5 ov)
9-333 (Joseph, 113.3 ov)
10-337 (Gabriel, 115.4 ov)

1-37 (Sami Aslam, 14.1 ov)
2-41 (Asad Shafiq, 16.6 ov)
3-41 (Younis Khan, 18.5 ov)
4-48 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 21.1 ov)

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