Yasir's six-for leaves Pakistan needing 32

Lunch Pakistan 407 (Misbah 99, Joseph 3-71) and 13 for 2 need 19 more to beat West Indies 286 and 152 (Powell 49, Yasir 6-63)
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Yasir Shah’s nine five-for hastened West Indies’ collapse © AFP

Pakistan, emboldened by pushing West Indies to a tight corner last evening, spent a session closing in. They picked up six wickets for 59 to leave their batsmen a target of 32. By the time lunch was called, West Indies looked well done even though they removed the openers; Pakistan were 19 away from taking a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.

Misbah was in no mood to experiment, getting his two best bowlers – Mohammad Amir and Yasir Shah – into the attack straight away. At perhaps no stage of the Test did a wicket look as imminent as it did in the first 10 overs. Amir tormented nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo with an unwavering line outside off stump. Or perhaps it was the other way round, as Bishoo kept missing, somehow managing to keep his outside edge from making contact with the ball.

Lesser bowlers – or indeed, Amir with lower levels of confidence – may have been frustrated. But Amir kept plugging away, and he was duly rewarded. Vishaul Singh had just cut a rare poor Amir delivery away for four, but the bowler’s comeback was destructive. He went slightly wide of the crease to the left-hander, the ball shaping in sharply from the moment it pitched, destination: top of off. Singh, who had seen Amir move the ball the other way all morning, shouldered arms, and was every bit as much a spectator as everyone else when the off stump cartwheeled.

Yasir was menacing from the other end, getting sharp turn off what was beginning to look like a standard day-five pitch, but it was Mohamamd Abbas who struck the next damaging blows with two wickets off three balls. Bishoo was the first to go, flashing at a short and deivery with Younis Khan pouching it in the slips. Two balls later, Shane Dowrich played across a straight ball that struck his pads in front of middle stump.

Wahab, who has had a slightly disappointing Test with the ball, then got into the act, removing Jason Holder, West Indies’ highest scorer in the first innings. Yasir came in to clean up the lower order, just like he had the top order, removing Alzarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel within four balls of each other to take six wickets this Test match, bolstering his ever-burgeoning credentials as a lethal second-innings bowler.

This was the fifth time two Pakistan bowlers had taken six wickets in an innings of a Test match, and the first since 2002.

The chase of 32 was one perhaps not even Pakistan could stuff up, but they can’t be accused of not trying to make things interesting. Ahmed Shehzad tentatively pushed at the Gabriel delivery outside off stump for a simple catch to the wicketkeeper in the third over. Three balls later, Azhar Ali was making the walk back, having made a mess of trying to leave a ball from Joseph, only to somehow end up dragging it onto his stumps. That brought Younis and Babar together, who added six more before deciding against the extra half hour.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo