By Shahid Hashmi in Abu Dhabi
Pakistan can make it 2-0 as they have accumulated a big 452 run total in the Abu Dhabi Test and before closing the second day had the best West Indian batsman Darren Bravo back in the dressing room.
West Indies were 106-4 at close, staill trailing by 346 runs and with the pitch started to taking spin it is highly likely that Pakistan will get a handsome lead through its spinners Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar.
The highlight of the day though was Misbah-ul-haq once again failing to reach a hundred. He looked shaky after coming the crease and fell for 96.
Misbah’s jinx of not scoring runs after being not out overnight continued. He had four scoreless starts the following day, once he scored four and once he managed 51. Had there been one more over on day one Misbah would have tried to reach the three-figure mark.
But it was not to be. He missed an incoming delivery and was adjudged leg-before. He was not willing to take a review but took it reluctantly on Yasir’s insistence. But to his bad luck it went to umpire’s call and Misbah had to trudge back to the pavilion.
Unlike Younis Khan, who hit his 31st consecutive hundred without being dismissed on nervous 90s, this was Misbah’s third nervous 90s and if you add his six 80plus and as many 70plus scores he had missed on at least 15 hundreds.
Sarfraz batted in his usual aggressive style and his 59-ball 56 gave the real impetus to the innings, taking Pakistan beyond 450-mark. He coudl have gone on to score a hundred but missed a full length low delivery from Gabriel and was bowled. Mohammad Nawaz hit 25 and Sohail Khan made 26 and for the first time it looked Pakistan’s tail was worthy of making some useful runs.
It was Darren Bravo who opened the innings after an unwell Kraig Brathwaite spent more time away from the field when Pakistan were batting.
Bravo once again looked in good touch and completed his 1,000 runs against spinners in Tests in Asia. He is one of the only seven overseas batsmen to score 1000-plus runs against them since 2000.
Once again he fell to Yasir Shah whose short pitched ball saw Bravo trying to pull but missed it and was trapped leg-before. Pakistan had to take a review as English umpire Michael Gough had ruled it not out. Gough had to once again change his decisoion very next ball as he gave Marlon Samuels out leg-before only to see television replays showing Samuels had an inside edge.
Samuels and Brathwaite fell in the space of three balls to leave West Indies fight in tatters.
So all in all an exicting day and West Indies once again put up a good fight.