The hosts finished at 244/7 after 63 by Roston Chase and 56 from Shane Dowrich - three wickets for Mohammad Amir and two for Yasir Shah.

By Abdullah Ansari (21st April, 2017)

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

Teams

West Indies: KC Brathwaite, KOA Powell, SO Hetmyer, SD Hope, VA Singh, SO Dowrich†, RL Chase, JO Holder*, D Bishoo, AS Joseph, ST Gabriel

Pakistan: Azhar Ali, Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Mohammad Amir, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Abbas

Misbah won the toss to start the series and opted to field due to the conditions aiding pacers as Abbas made his debut. The decision looked to be a good one quite soon as Amir found some swing in the first over, followed by Abbas striking with his second ball, getting Brathwaite caught in the slips. Debuting batsman Hetmyer was cleverly set up by Amir after a short partnership as the bowler plugged away outside off-stump then brought one back into the batsman to clean up his stumps. Hope struggled in his brief stay at the crease and was Amir's next victim, as he fell to an in-swinging delivery and was bowled. West Indies other debutant, Singh shared a brief partnership with Powell but was dismissed as he clipped a delivery from Wahab into the leg-side, but it was straight to Azhar at square-leg who took a sharp catch. Powell batted through the session as West Indies went to Lunch at 71/4.

Amir began proceedings in the second session and delivered almost instantly as Powell played a loose drive to an out-swinger and edged it to Younis at slip for 33. Chase and Dowrich came together with the score at 71/5 and showcased patience and willingness to dig in and put the bad balls away as they played out Amir and Abbas' initial spells in the second session. Wahab and Yasir began their spells with a couple of loose overs as the partnership gained some rhythm but soon settled down to string together a slew of tight overs as they looked to dry up the runs to try and induce a mistake. However, the batsmen were resolute in defence and continued to put away the bad deliveries with Pakistan taking an unsuccessful review for LBW off Yasir before the end of the session as West Indies ended on 143/5.

Yasir and Abbas began proceedings in the third session but the two batsmen safely negotiated the first few overs with the old ball proving to be harder to pick wickets with for Pakistan. The partnership surpassed hundred as both batsmen got their fifties. It took a moment of brilliance to create a breakthrough as Chase lofted the ball down the ground where Wahab took a catch for the ages, running back and taking a blinder at full stretch just inside the boundary. Yasir made it two in two balls as Dowrich went for an extravagant drive next ball, missed it and was bowled. Holder and Bishoo were positive in their approach from the get go with Bishoo going after his fellow leg-spinner, hitting him for a four and six. Holder attacked as well as the runs came in quick time for the two batsmen with a fifty partnership raised at almost run-a-ball. Pakistan took the second new ball as soon as it was available but Amir only bowled one over before play was called off due to bad light with West Indies 244/7.

Summary: An even day at the close. At one point, it looked like Pakistan would dismiss the home side for a below-par total on Day 1 after Amir and Abbas bowled probing spells with the former specially superb through out. However, Chase and Dowrich fought back with disciplined fifties until they both fell to Yasir. The late counter-attack shifted the balance once again and both sides will feel that the match is fairly even going into Day 2.

Fall of wickets: 

1-1 (Brathwaite, 1.2 ov)
2-24 (Hetmyer, 8.2 ov)
3-32 (Hope, 12.6 ov)
4-53 (Singh, 19.4 ov)
5-71 (Powell, 26.2 ov)
6-189 (Chase, 69.3 ov)
7-189 (Dowrich, 69.4 ov)

Discuss!