The West Indies-Pakistan cricket relationship that kicked off back with unofficial tour of in 1948-49 has seen many ups and downs.
Pakistan will be up for the challenge against West Indies when they fight for supremacy in first Test match at Sabina Park, Kingston – Jamaica on Friday, April 21.
Here, we take a brief look at every West Indies-Pakistan series starting from 1956-57
1957-58 [Pakistan in West Indies]
In January 1958, Pakistan embarked on their first official visit to the West Indies, for a five-Test rubber. In the first Test when Pakistan were forced to follow-on 473 runs behind, Hanif Mohammad batted 970 minutes, scoring 337 runs and in the process saw off a looming defeat. That innings of Hanif was the ultimate effort in cricketing endurance spread over almost three days. Pakistan also recorded its then highest Test score of 657-8 declared which stood for almost four decades. Nasim-ul-Ghani, aged 16 years 248 days, became the youngest test player so far. Hanif shared in four century-partnerships during the innings, which was, until 1984-85.Conrad Hunte scored a hundred on Test debut.
The West Indies then won the next three Test matches in a row taking an unbeatable 3-0 lead. At Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, West Indies gained the first victory in this new series. Waqar Hasan was the first of 309 wickets to fall to the off-spin of Lance Gibbs. Fazal Mahmood set the present Pakistan record by bowling 606 balls in the match. The highlight was Sobers record innings of 365 in the third Test at Kingston who was also involved in a second-wicket stand of 446 with Conard Hunte who made 260 runs.
Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, aged 21, scored 365* and hitting 38 fours and batting for 10 hours 14 minutes (3 hours 3 minutes less than Hutton, whose record beat by one run). It was Sobers first three-figure score in a Test. West Indies compiled the third-highest total in a Test against an attack containing only two uninjured specialist bowlers.
The retirement of Nasim (fractured thumb) and Mahmood Hussain (pulling thigh muscle) led to Fazal (most overs) and Khan (most runs conceded) setting new records. Sobers followed up his marathon knock with a century-in-each-innings the Georgetown Test. His aggregate in his last three innings against Pakistan to 599 runs for once out.
Pakistan salvaged some of its pride by clinching the final Test of the rubber at Port-of-Spain by an innings margin, thanks mainly to Wazir Mohammad’s Test best of 189 and exquisite spells of bowling by pacer Fazal Mahmood (6-83) and young left-arm spinner Nasim-ul-Ghani (6-67). Hunte was the first West Indian batsman to be out to the first ball of a Test match. This series also marked the end of the illustrious career of Abdul Hafeez Kardar.
1958-59 [West Indies in Pakistan]
The following year saw West Indians arrived in Pakistan for the first time to play three Tests series. The tourists opened their tour with a drawn three-day match against Central Zone at Bahawalpur with most of their batsmen (Rohan Kanhai top scoring with 114) among runs and bowlers too getting among wickets.
Fazal Mahmood began his Test captaincy by putting Pakistan’s newest visitors in to bat on a matting pitch and leading his country to their second win in successive matches against this powerful combination.
On the first day of the Karachi Test, with Fazal (picking up Hunte and Sobers without scoring) and Nasim-ul-Ghani picking four wickets apiece, the tourists were sent packing or 146. On the second day Hanif Mohammad (103) and Saeed Ahmed (78) took Pakistan past the modest opposition total and making their side firm favourites. Even by grabbing the last six wickets for twenty runs. West Indies could not help conceding a 158 run deficit.
On the fourth morning all seemed lost for the visitors at 109-5 when a spirited revival led by Basil Butcher (61) and Joe Solomon (66) took the match into the final day. The home side but for their poor catching would have wrapped up the Test match on the fourth afternoon. Nevertheless a target of 88 was achieved by Pakistan, but not without mishap. In the absence of Hanif on the final day, the challenge was taken up by the Ijaz Butt (41), and Saeed Ahmed resulting in a ten-wicket win for Pakistan. The victorious captain, Fazal with his seventh wicket in the match (Gary Sobers lbw for 14 in the second innings) became the first Pakistani bowler to claim hundred Test wickets. Hanif took no further part in the rubber after injuring his knee in the second innings and retiring at 27; he had played in Pakistan’s first 24 Test matches.
In the second Test, captain Fazal Mahmood was back at his very best on another matting wicket in Dacca. His match figures of 12-100 went a long way to ensure Pakistan’s 41 run win in a low scoring game, on the third day. The home side’s chief contribution with the bat, came from Wallis Mathias, who top scored in both innings. On the opening day, Wes Hall’s fiery spell had reduced Pakistan’s line up (without Hanif for the first time since its inauguration in October 1952) to 5-22, when a slide was checked through a fighting 86-run partnership between Wallis (64) and Shujauddin (26). The following morning saw West Indies losing their last eight wicket for twenty runs to be all out for 76, which remained their lowest total ever until 1986. In an amazing turn around the last six batsmen in the order failed to open their account. Another disastrous start meant the first innings pair of Wallis and Shujauddin coming back to the rescue again but on the third morning another bating collapse inflicted by Wes Hall (a spell of 4-12 off 4.5 overs) left West Indies chasing 214 on a crumbling wicket. In the 61st over of the innings, it was all over as Fazal (6-66) and Mahmood Hussain (4-48) tore through the opposition with relentless accuracy and penetration.
With the series already in the bag, the Pakistan skipper was happy to take on the visitors on the turf wickets of Bagh-i-Jinnah, Lahore. West Indies hit back in the final Test at Lahore and inflicted a heavy innings defeat upon their hosts. Rohan Kanhai hit a superb 217 and Wes hall claimed a hat-trick in Pakistan’s first innings. For Pakistan, Mushtaq Mohammad made his debut at the tender age of 15 years and 124 days. This was Pakistan’s first defeat in a Test at home. Khani’s 217 is still the highest score for either side in this series in Pakistan.
1974-75 [West Indies in Pakistan]
There was no Test cricket played between Pakistan and West Indies for the next sixteen years. Both sides had one survivor each from the 1958-59 rubber in the shape of Lance Gibbs and Mushtaq Mohammed. After their 3-2 series win in India Clive Lloyd’s West Indian team arrived in February 1975 for a three-week tour. During their stay in Pakistan two Test matches were to be played. At Lahore in the first Test Mushtaq Mohammad’s fighting qualities came to the fore with 123 in the second innings. On the final day Leonard Baichan (105*), on debut, shared a match-saving partnership with his skipper, when Pakistan was pressing for advantage.
The Karachi Test was marred by rioting, which followed spectator intrusions when Wasim Raja, completed his maiden century. Earlier Majid Khan had delighted the first day crowd with an effortless 100, his first hundred in Pakistan. The tourists gained an eighty-seven runs lead with Kallicharran-Lloyd stand yielded 139 runs in 115 minutes for the fourth wicket. The hosts were rescued from 90-5 in the second innings by Asif Iqbal (77) and injured Sadiq Mohammad (98*) to draw the series. The left ear that caused a swollen neck, while fielding close on the leg-side to Julien. Wasim Raja, whose ankle was put in plaster after he had damaged ligaments when bowling his fifth over, was unable to survive sufficiently long to allow Sadiq to reach his hundred.
Pakistan Tour of West Indies 1976-77
1976-77 [Pakistan in West Indies]
In the 1976-77 season the West Indian public was treated to a marvellous series, which was decided by a 2-1 margin in the favour of the home team. The series opener at Barbados was a match of fluctuating fortunes, which the West Indies saved with their last three batsmen defying the Pakistani bowlers for the last 95 minutes. The partnership of 133 in 110 minutes between Wasim Raja and Wasim Bari is Pakistan’s highest for the tenth wicket in all Tests. Bari was batting last after a swimming incident the previous day when he had been rescued from the sea by a lifeguard. The match aggregate of extras (173) and no-balls (103) are records for all Test cricket.
The second match saw Colin Croft took 8-29 on the opening day which sealed the fate of the match. West Indies won the match by six wickets. Intikhab Alam, who scored 1,493 runs, took 125 wickets, and captained Pakistan 17 times, made the last of his 47 Test appearances. The third Test at Georgetown ended in a draw. Clive Lloyd tore a hamstring muscle after only 20 minutes of play on the first day and Murray assumed the West Indies captaincy on the field. A bottle-throwing incident caused play to be suspended for 20 minutes on the second day. Majid achieved Test career-best performances with both bat and ball in this match.
Pakistan drew level in the Port-of-Spain Test with skipper Mushtaq Mohammad coming good with bat as well as the ball. Pakistan won the Test by 266 runs. Mushtaq Mohammad became the second all-rounder after Garfield Sobers to score a hundred and took five wickets in an innings of the same Test on two occasions.
The final Test was played at truly fast pitch and West Indians with more firepower at their disposal emerged winners by 140 runs, also taking the series 2-1. Soon after the start of the fifth day’s play West Indies won their second rubber against Pakistan. Wasim Bari who became the first wicketkeeper to make 100 dismissals for Pakistan, retired at 197 after being hit in the face attempting hook against Croft. Majid kept wicket for pat of the second innings and held four catches. Colin Croft emulated A.L. Valentine by taking 33 wickets in his first rubber. Pakistan crossed 300 runs in the fourth innings of a Test for the first time.
1980-81 [West Indies in Pakistan]
In November 1980, Clive Lloyd brought a West Indian squad, which included five fast bowlers determined to break the deadlock. They were the first team to beat Pakistan on their own soil since 1969-70. The squad’s chief objective was achieved by virtue of their win in the second Test at Faisalabad, the only match of the four-Test series not to be affected by bad weather. Two surprise omission were of fast bowler Andy Roberts and long serving wicketkeeper Dereck Murray.
At Lahore, in the first Test Imran Khan became the second Pakistan player, after Intikhab Alam to reach the Test double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets to their name. He had received good support from Wasim Raja (76) and Sarfraz Nawaz (55) that carried Pakistan’s total to 369. The loss of third day’s play due to heavy rain left little for either teams to achieve. Mohammad Nazir (Jr.) recalled to Test cricket after an interval of 7 years 248 days.
The second Test, played on an under prepared wicket, failed to blunt the cutting edge of West Indian pace battery as they steamroller to an easy win. West Indies beat Pakistan by 156 runs. The three spinners i.e. Qadir, Qasim and Mohammad Nazir shared all the twenty wickets, and it was only due to valuable fifties in each innings by Viv Richards. Set an almost impossible 302 to win, Pakistan batting was ripped apart on the fourth day and the venue, notorious for its lifeless wicket, had produced a definite result.
At Karachi in the third Test, Miandad opted to bat on a drying wicket, a decision that backfired. With routed to 128 all out, having lost first four wickets for 14. The loss of first day due to bad weather helped Pakistan, thanks to Wasim Raja’s defiant 77* on the final day, to draw the game. On an uneven surface, three sights of big Caribbean fast bowlers pounding the cherry at an extremely quick velocity produced a cricketing nightmare. In the first innings Zaheer paid the price for ineffective drying facilities when he took a nasty blow on the forehead facing Colin Croft. The start of the fourth day’s play was delayed by 23 minutes because umpire Shakoor Rana had left his kit at the hotel.
The introduction of Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium, Multan as a new Test centre, was marred by an unfortunate incident on the second day. The West Indian fast bowler, Sylvester Clarke, infuriated by persistent orange-pelting from the crowd, removed a brick boundary marker and hit one of the leaders of a local student’s union. Play had to be halted for 25 minutes due to crowd eruption and it took Alvin Kallicharran’s banded knee appeal to restore the game. On the field there was little to report apart from Viv Richards’ masterly 120* despite a leg injury, on a worn out pitch. There was only 40 minutes play possible on the fourth and none at all on the fifth. Joel Garner took his 100th Test wicket when he bowled Sarfraz. The result gained West Indies their first rubber in the three visits to Pakistan.
1986-87 [West Indies in Pakistan]
Six years later, Imran Khan was made the Pakistan captain in the 1986-87 series against West Indies at home. In the opening Test at Faisalabad on a recently-laid wicket, Pakistan staged the most astonishing fight back in their Test history to go one up in the series. The tourists led by 89 on the first innings and had taken two early wickets in the second when first night watchman, Saleem Yousuf (61) and Wasim Akram (66) helped by lusty blows at number nine took Pakistan’s total to 328. The last wicket stand between Wasim Akram and Saleem Malik realised precious thirty-two runs. The visitors chasing a target of 240 runs to win on worn wicket, folded to their all-time low score of 53, with Abdul Qadir (6/16) having the time of his life. This defeat, the first under the captaincy of Viv Richards, ended a run of seven wins and was only the second inflicted upon the touring side in their last 38 Tests and the third in their last 54. West Indies were dismissed for their lowest total in 247 Tests (previously 76, also at the hands of Pakistan), and the lowest total in 73 Tests by all countries in Pakistan, previously by 70 by New Zealand.
There had been only five lower totals in 722 Test matches since 1946. Saleem Malik retired at 90 when his left-arm was fractured above the wrist by a lifting ball from Walsh. Batting last in the second innings with his left arm in plaster. Malik survived 15 balls from, Walsh and Anthony Gray in a brave stand of 32 with Wasim Akram. After facing the first ball left-handed he reverted to his normal stance.
The next Test at Lahore, saw the West Indians coming back with a vengeance and winning by an innings, within three days. This contest produced an aggregate of 426 runs for 29 wickets (an average of 14.68 runs per wicket) and a highest partnership of only 49.n The West Indies total of 218 is the third-lowest to achieve an innings victory in Test cricket following by 153 by Australia and 172 by England. Pakistan were dismissed for their lowest total against West Indies and their lowest in any home Test. West Indies included two specialist spin bowler for the first time since 1978-79 they shard but a single over. Qasim Umar retired at after being struck in the face by a bouncer from Walsh.
The third and final Test at Karachi, proved to be another nail-biting affair. Skipper Imran Khan and Tauseef Ahmed defied the West Indies to achieve an honourable draw and thus shared the series they had come close to winning. Rameez Raja scored 62 in 408 minutes, his fifty (318 minutes) being then the third-slowest in Tests. Desmond Haynes became the third West Indian after F.M.M. Worrell and C.C. Hunte to carry his bat through a completed Test innings; only Sunil Gavaskar and Mudassar Nazar had previously achieved this feat in Pakistan. Despite a fractured bone in his left-hand Abdul Qadir bowled 75.5 overs. Roger Harper and Clyde Butts provided the first instance since February 1979 and specialist spin bowlers operating in the same innings for West Indies- an interlude and embracing 59 Tests and 14 series. For only the second time since 1888 no player scored a hundred during a series involving three or more Tests; the last series barren of centuries was that between India and New Zealand in 1969-70.
1987-88 [Pakistan in West Indies]
Pakistan became the first side in more than ten years to beat the West Indians in a home Test match and could have won the series had a few critical umpiring decisions not gone against them in the final Test at Bridgetown. Pakistan won the first Test of the series by nine wickets with Imran taking eleven wickets and Javed scoring his first Test century against West Indies. Before on the fourth day, Pakistan became the first visiting side to win a Test in the Caribbean since the 1977-78 Australians defeated a side devastated by defections to World Series Cricket. Imran Khan celebrates the end of his ‘retirement’ from Test cricket with his sixth ten-wicket haul. Miandad (405 minutes, 234 balls) score his 16th Test hundred and his first against West Indies. The total of 71 extras set a new Test record, surpassing the 68, also conceded by West Indies against Pakistan, at Kingston in 1976-7; 53 no-balls were called in the innings.
The second Test was an epic encounter, which rightly concluded as a draw, with Pakistan’s last man Abdul Qadir blocking the last five balls of the match from Viv Richards. Surprisingly the match went the distance after 15 wickets had fallen on the first day. Pakistan’s slender lead was the product of their highest eight-wicket partnership of the series; 94 between Saleem Malik and Saleem Yousuf. A chanceless 17th hundred by Miandad (427 minutes, 240 balls) kept Pakistan in touch with victory. When he was out 84 runs were needed from the last 20 overs and the task proved beyond even the gifted lower order.
The final Test was won by the West Indies by a narrow two-wicket margin. Apart from Marshall’s fiery bowling the Pakistanis also suffered due to some inconsistent umpiring which enabled West Indies to maintain their sixteen years old unbeaten record at home. Until Benjamin joined Dujon in a match-winning series record ninth-wicket unbroken stand of 61, Pakistan seemed certain to become the first visiting country ever to win at Bridgetown in 23 Tests since 1934-35. Benjamin scored the winning boundary off Qadir who had earlier been involved exchanges, verbal and physical, with a heckler on the boundary. An out-of-court settlement of $1,000 was paid to the punched spectator to avoid Qadir having to remain in Barbados to face prosecution.
1990-91 [West Indies in Pakistan]
West Indies shared the 1990-91 Pakistan season with New Zealand. The Karachi wicket with low and unpredictable bounce, did not encourage stroke play at all and the two ‘Ws’ (Wasim and Waqar) shared fifteen of the twenty wickets to fall. Shoaib Mohammad’s 86 in eight hours and a charming hundred from Saleem Malik rescued the home team from 27-3. The West Indian captain Desmond Haynes superb 117 in the first innings failed to take the side’s total beyond 261.
Just five days later, West Indies gained revenge for their defeat in Karachi, a cavalier innings by Richardson sealing victory with more than six sessions to spare. A superb spell of fast bowling by Marshall (4 wickets in 13 balls) on the third day, turned the match upside down and helped the visitors to square the series befittingly with a seven wickets win at Faisalabad. Waqar Younis returned his fifth five-wicket analysis in six innings and set a Pakistan record by reaching 50 wickets in only his tenth Tests. Saeed Anwar faced only five balls in being dismissed for a pair before his Test career was two days old.
The third and final Test at Lahore ended in a draw. After conceding a first innings lead of 172 on yet another paceless pitch of uneven bounce, Pakistan showed great tenacity in thwarting the West Indies attack for the final five sessions. Brain Charles Lara began his Test career by providing Hooper with his only major support during his second hundred in 22 matches. Wasim Akram terminated in dramatic style by taking four wickets in five balls to emulate the feats of M.J.C. Allom and C.M. Old. An edged single followed the dismissals of Dujon and Ambrose to Bishop and the wickets of Marshall and Walsh. A resolute Imran Khan (196 balls) and debutant nightwatchman Masood Anwar (130 balls) defied a cracked and ragged surface to ensure that the third successive rubber in this series ended in a 1-1 draw.
1992-93 [Pakistan in West Indies]
The unpredictable bounce and inept batting display at Port-of-Spain, the venue for the first Test of the 1992-93 series, resulted in tourists losing the match on the third day by a huge margin of 204 runs. This match will also be remembered for the record number (17) of lbw’s given in one Test match. The start of the match was postponed a day to allow the tourists to recover from the trauma of four of their players, including the captain and vice-captain, being arrested and charged with ‘constructive possession’ of marijuana. They recovered sufficiently to dismiss West Indies for their lowest home total in this series as remarkable opening day of the series produced 17 wickets. Umpire Bucknor (12) and Bird (5) upheld a record total of 17 LBW appeals in this Test, a tribute to the pitch’s exceptionally low bounce on the first and third days.
The second Test at Bridgetown brought further agony for the tourists. The dropped catches and ill-directed bowling resulted in the home team reaching a massive total of 455. Pakistan in reply were all out for 221, inspite of Basit Ali’s brave knock of 92. Asked to follow-on, they fared slightly better but still could only get 28 ahead, and thus a ten wicket defeat in four days.
The third and final Test at St. John’s Antigua ended in a draw. Rain prevented any play on the final day, thus ended a series and a nightmarish tour for Pakistan under Wasim Akram’s captaincy. Carl Hooper’s exhilarating and chanceless innings (293 minutes, 247 balls, four sixes and 19 fours) was his fourth hundred in Tests but his first in 23 innings in the Caribbean. He manoeuvred his tenth-wicket partnership of 106 in 103 minutes with Walsh. Inzamam-ul-Haq (314 minutes, 225 balls, a six and 11 fours) scored his first Test hundred in his 13th innings. Clany Mack deputised for Umpire Bird (bruised) on the fourth afternoon.
1997-98 [West Indies in Pakistan]
West Indies crashed to what was- their heaviest ever defeat at the hands of Pakistan, inside four days by an innings and 19 runs at Peshawar. Walsh was left to rue his decision to bat first when his teams were tottering at 58 for seven just after lunch on the first day. But they reached 151 was due to wicketkeeper David Williams (31) and Curtly Ambrose (30). Leg Spinner Mushtaq Ahmed captured five wickets for 35 runs. After losing Aamer Sohail early on first day, Pakistan prospered on a bright, cold second morning, through a second-wicket partnership of 131 between Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed. Both were scoring freely. At one stage Pakistan’s score were 207 for five and the tourists were hopeful of limiting Pakistan’s advantage. Inzamam-ul-Haq’s, unbeaten 92, a belligerent 58 from wicketkeeper Moin Khan dashed those hopes. Inzamam was dropped on 5, 32 and 88. Skipper Walsh claimed five wickets for 78 runs. Trailing by 230, West Indies again lost Stuart Williams and Shivnarine Chanderpaul quickly. Brian Lara, striking eight sizzling boundaries in his 36. Sherwin Campbell made a patient 66 before becoming one of four victims of Wasim Akram. Mushtaq Ahmed, completing a second five wicket haul for match figures of ten for 106.
Pakistan clinched their first series victory over West Indies in 39 years in a most emphatic manner. They improved on their second margin in the first Test by another ten runs. The huge stand of 323 between Inzamam-ul-Haq and Aamer Sohail, the biggest for the third wicket against West Indies. The effectively eliminated their hopes of squaring the series after a first innings total of 303. Pakistan’s pace attack soon engineered another early West Indian slide: at 26 for three, a fourth day finish as in sight. Hooper kept the game going and struck three huge sixes in one over off Mushtaq to finish unbeaten on 73. However, his team were trounced once again.
Pakistan finished a series 3-0 whitewash with a ten-wicket victory at National Stadium, Karachi. After trailing on first innings by 201, West Indies forced Pakistan to bat again, for a few minutes on the fourth morning to avoid a third successive innings defeat. The Test followed a similar course to the previous two. West Indies’ batting failed collectively twice, despite a sparkling century from Hooper in his final turn at the crease. Pakistan relied on another massive partnership, this time an opening stand (record for Pakistan against any country) of 298 between Aamer Sohail.
Pakistan in West Indies 1999-2000
1999-2000 [Pakistan in West Indies]
With Moin Khan in charge, Pakistan team arrived in the West Indies to play a three-Test series. An intriguing contest was on the cards and this is exactly what the cricket fans got. In the end the West Indies must thank the lady luck and the umpires, who ‘erred’ at crucial stages, for their 1-0 victory.
After the first Test at Georgetown, Guyana was badly affected by rain and honours shared in the following contest at Bridgetown, Barbados, both the teams entered the final Test with brimming confidence.
Chasing 216 for victory at Antigua, they lost wickets at regular intervals. It was only skipper Jimmy Adams, who stood between Pakistan and victory and helped his team gain an exciting but highly controversial victory. As Pakistan bowlers led by Wasim Akram literally bowled their hearts out, much close leg before the home umpire turned down appeals as the West Indies slowly inched towards their mark. Just before closure, two run outs, one each of Adams and Courtney Walsh, were missed by the nervous Pakistani fielders. On both the occasions both the batsmen were stranded at one end and had lost all hopes when the buttery-fingered Pakistan fielders missed the easiest of chances. And if this was not enough, the neutral umpire gave Walsh the benefit of doubt when television replays clearly showed that he got a big nick before a close-in fielder gobbled the ball up.
Yousuf Youhana (now Mohammad Yousuf) came of age during the series. His two back-to-back hundreds are a testimony of the immaculate technique and excellent temperament, he seem to possess. Only one Pakistani, Javed Miandad, before him had the honour of scoring two centuries in one rubber in the West Indies.
Wasim Akram showed that he has enough fire left in him to finish with a bag of ten wickets in the last Test. Unfortunately his efforts proved to no avail as his team finished on the losing side.
The controversial finish of the series has further emphasised the need of having third country at both ends in a Test match.
2001-02 [West Indies v Pakistan UAE]
In a major departure from practice and tradition, Pakistan played host to West Indies on foreign soil. Two tests, both of which Pakistan won emphatically, and three one-day international were staged at Sharjah CA Stadium in the space of 18 days.
Both sides were depleted by injuries. Pakistan were without Saeed Anwar and, for the Tests, Wasim Akram. But they were not undermined by that of Brian Lara, who had enjoyed a phenomenal series in Sri Lanka only two months earlier, and Ramnaresh Sarwan. No one managed a century for west indies during the tests, and the only innings in which they achieved respectability was the very first. A total of 366 featured five fifties, one of them from debutant Ryan Hinds.
Pakistan were barely handicapped by the poor starts given them by their openers, or by Inzamam-ul-Haq’s lack of form. Yousuf Youhana, who had scored two centuries in his previous three tests against West Indies, and Younis khan made hundreds, as did Rashid Latif and Shahid Afridi. Waqar Younis was potent force, and the slow pitch was no curb for Shoaib Akhtar. Abdul Razzaq’s reserve swing was also a deadly weapon: nine wickets at 14, coupled with 143 runs, made him Man-of-the-Series.
The spinners were expected to wreak havoc on cracked surfaces, but it was pace and reverse swing that did more damage, claiming 48 wickets to spin’s 19.
2005 [Pakistan in West Indies]
Pakistan’s sixth tour of the Caribbean was their shortest and most successful, a month-long swing through four islands that started with a clean sweep in the One-Day Internationals and ended with victory in the second of two Tests to square the series.
West Indies wrapped up a comfortable 276-run win at Bridgetown, to take a 1-0 lead in the short series. Chris Gayle took his second five-wicket haul in Tests as the Pakistan tail subsided after lunch, following a excellent knock by Shahid Afridi, who made 122 from just 93 balls.
It is West Indies’ first significant Test win since they beat Sri Lanka in June 2003 (their only success since then was against Bangladesh) and is a first victory for Shivnarine Chanderpaul as captain.
Pakistan completed a comprehensive win in the second Test, early on the fifth morning, sealing the game by 136 runs and levelling the series 1-1. The West Indian tail could provide no resistance, adding just 29 runs to their overnight total before succumbing to 143 all out. Danish Kaneria sealed his five wicket haul.
2006-07 [West Indies in Pakistan]
Pakistan went into their first true home series against West Indies for nine years (the two Tests of 2001-02 were played in Sharjah after security concerns). Stunning performance from Muhammad Yousuf, who scored 665 runs in the Test series, smashing the overall records for runs and centuries in a calendar year in the process, lifted them to a comfortable victory in the Tests.
Pakistan beat West Indies 2-0. Inzamam lead his side to a nine-wicket win, Pakistan’s fourth in their last seven home Tests, in Lahore. Lara’s brilliant, counter-attacking century on day four went in vain as Pakistan were the clear victors, thanks to their all-round performance.
2011 [Pakistan in West Indies]
West Indies’ first Test win since February 2009 was especially satisfying. It came against the background of familiar controversy: Chris Gayle was left out after an incendiary radio interview, while Chanderpaul was grudgingly selected after being just as vocal about his exclusion from the preceding one-day series. Victory was particularly fulfilling for Sammy, who responded widespread questioning of his place in the side with a performance that won him the match figures of 29-13-45-7.
In this case, statistics did not lie: they revealed the defects of a pitch as hard and dry as board, which led to a record 20 LBW dismissals, allowed just a solitary individual half-century and kept the overall run-rate 2.4 an over. Pakistan’s spinners capitalized on some generous turn, claiming 17 wickets, with Saeed Ajmal’s off-breaks and doosras brining him 11 for 111 (almost identical to Wasim Akram’s 11 for 110 at Antigua in may 2000, the best for Pakistan in losing cause). For West Indies, Sammy and Rampaul shared 14 wickets, mainly by adhering to the stump-to-stump line that made the most of the inconsistent bounce.
After their hard fought win Guyana, the West Indians not unreasonably expected St Kitts to serve up the featherbed of the previous year’s drawn test against South Africa, on which despairing bowlers conceded five individual hundreds, and 1324 runs in all for 19 wickets. Instead, the pitch – hard and dry, encouraging turn and bounce – played into the heads of Pakistan’s spinners, who shared 15 wickets and Taufeeq Umar and Misbah-ul-haq put the match beyond west indies’ grasp. Pakistan leveled the series midway through the final day.
2016-17 [Pakistan v West Indies in UAE]
The West Indian cricket team toured the United Arab Emirates from September to November 2016 to play three Twenty20 International (T20Is), three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Test matches against Pakistan.
The first Test in Dubai was Pakistan’s 400th Test match and the second day/night Test.
Pakistan clinched a thrilling 56-run win over West Indies in the day-night Test in Dubai despite a Darren Bravo century on the final day.
Mohammad Amir took 3-63 for the hosts, his best figures since his return, to ensure victory for the hosts in their 400th Test.
Bravo’s 116 gave West Indies – chasing 346 to win – hope, before he fell to Yasir Shah to leave them 263-7.
Pakistan wrapped up victory with 12 overs to spare.
Leg-spinner Yasir Shah took six second-innings wickets in Pakistan’s crushing 133-run second Test win over West Indies in Abu Dhabi.
The wily spinner finished with 6-124 to secure his second ten-wicket haul in Test cricket after claiming four wickets in the first innings as West Indies were bowled out for 322 before tea on a weary fifth and final day pitch at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Shah had deprived West Indian batsman Jermaine Blackwood his second Test hundred when he bowled him for 95 in the pre-lunch session.
West Indies, set a mammoth 456-run target for an unlikely victory, still fought hard and batted for 108 overs with Shai Hope also scoring a fighting 41.
Shah had Miguel Cummins bowled for nought to finish the match with figures of 10-210, having taken 4-86 in the first innings.
Captain Misbah-ul-Haq showed delight at the series win.
The West Indies won the final Test match of the series, which was their first Test win with Jason Holder as captain.
Kraigg Brathwaite became the first opener to be unbeaten in both innings of a Test, as he led West Indies to an absorbing five-wicket win over Pakistan in Sharjah – their first Test win outside the West Indies and Bangladesh since 2007.
It was also West Indies’ first win in 14 Tests.
Yet, resuming on 114 for 5, with 39 runs to win, overnight batsmen Brathwaite and Shane Dowrich showed no sign of letting the occasion get to them. Brathwaite opened proceedings with a crisp drive to the cover boundary off Wahab Riaz on the first ball of the day.
Dowrich smacked a half-tracker from Yasir Shah to the midwicket boundary in the next over. That set the tone as the pair took just 7.5 overs to knock down the target in clinical fashion on the fifth morning.
Pakistan won both the ODI and T20I series 3–0.
The Test series was also won by Pakistan, by the margin of 2-1.