Tea Pakistan 329 for 7 (Shadab 0*, Bishoo 3-103) lead West Indies 312 by 17 runs
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Azhar Ali made his 13th Test hundred and helped Pakistan wipe out the deficit © AFP
A lunch break is supposed to last around 40 minutes, but in Bridgetown, it appeared to bring cricket forward by 40 years. After Pakistan had spent the first session ticking along at just over two runs per over in a manner that might be have been considered conservative in the 1970s, they snapped back into 2017 mode in the afternoon, scoring 103 in the session.
The captain Misbah-ul-Haq was responsible for the injection of pace into the innings. He looked good for a hundred but fell agonisingly short again, on 99. What followed was a manic 20 minutes in which Pakistan went from 316 for 4 to ending the session at 329 for 7, just 17 runs ahead.
After Misbah had looked serenely untroubled all session, it was a mind game, a review that’s as tactical as could be, that appeared to disturb that famously unflappable mind. With Misbah on 99, looking like he’d finally get the hundred he has been due this series, he was struck on the back leg by his opposite number Jason Holder. It was never going to be lbw (too high), but the West Indies went for the review anyway.
It was so obviously not out everyone appeared to be having a laugh, and that light-hearted moment meant Misbah’s concentration temporarily took its leave. The next ball from Holder reared up from outside off stump, getting Misbah stuck in an awkward position from which he appeared to neither play nor leave.
The pitch decided to be naughty at the most inopportune of times for Misbah, the ball rearing up, smashing into his glove and ballooning into the air. Shai Hope at gully can’t have taken an easier catch in his life.
Misbah’s dismissal came as a big boost for West Indies, and it was palpable. Shannon Gabriel returned to the attack and had Sarfraz Ahmed, who looked like he had come out with the intention to score quickly, edging an attempted cover drive to slip. The very next over, Jason Holder skidded one through that struck Asad Shafiq on the front pad playing across the line, and the umpire sent him on his way. This meant a session that Pakistan had utterly dominated suddenly turned into one the West Indies would end up being happier with.
The run rate had picked up as soon as the session began, with Pakistan looking a lot more comfortable as spin operated from both ends. The shackles were broken when Misbah swung free to play his favourite shot – a six over long-on – and suddenly, the batsmen were woken from their stupor.
Azhar brought up his 13th Test hundred soon after, with a cut past backward point for four. However, Devendra Bishoo was beginning to find his range on the surface, and beat Azhar Ali’s bat from around the wicket on more than one occasion. Eight overs in, he got the wicket he deserved as one that spun past the opener’s bat took a faint outside edge, breaking a 98-run partnership that took over 42 overs to accumulate.
Misbah, though, continued to play in the liberated mood he found himself in after lunch, sweeping well and even bring out the reverse sweep to neutralise the spinners’ leg-stump line, and the runs began to flow freely, 67 coming off the 15 overs the spin bowlers operated in tandem for. Pakistan were by that point ticking off the milestones, the 300, the 50-partnership between Asad Shafiq and Misbah, and then going past West Indies first-innings total. However, it will be the one that got away – by one run yet again – that is likely to make this session memorable.
Danyal Rasool is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Danny61000
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo