At last Misbah ul Haq did it what no other Pakistani
captain could do in last 60 years, winning Test series in West Indies. However
West Indies didn’t go without fighting , a kind of resilience their fans would
love to see in them in long term but to get out with only six balls to spare
after doing hard work must have left lot of them gutted , especially Roston
Chase and Captain Jason Holder who have been pillars of their fights
throughout the series. For Pakistan
their first win in Caribbean was a perfect farewell to of one of their finest
cricketers.
However with only seven balls to go and Roston Chase,
who made a brilliant hundred was in no mood to give Pakistan an inch to achieve
the glory along with no.11 Shannon Gabriel almost fought for 45 balls with
Gabriel showing enough patience to survive and give Chase a chance to see of
the last over, the possibility for great escape for West Indies had increased.
Pakistan on the other hand was on verge of missing another opportunity to win
the series in Caribbean. Until Gabriel’s inning ended in a madness , going for
mad slog off Yasir’s last ball and what would have been final ball he would
have faced with Chase on other end
playing extremely well ,a game awareness could have saved the West Indies both
Test and the Test series.
However all the focus was on Misbah and Younis , the
two legends walked for last time from an International fixture. The Kind of
Farewell probably only great Imran Khan and to an extent Inzamam-ul-Haq got
after their retirements. Else Pakistan has very rough record to give proper
farewell to their cricketers. None of Wasim, Waqar ,Anwar, Saqlain , Mustaque,
Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar and so many deserving got the send offs they deserved .
This showed the positive change in Pakistan cricket in last few years since
Misbah took over. After losses in Southern Hemisphere last winter he achieved a
feat none of his preceders could achieve.
Earlier West Indies top order felt again. Starting
from 7-1 , Kraig Brathwaite lean series continued as he was caught at point of
Yasir Shah. While Young Shermon Hetmyer played Positive cricket but felt to
Amir again , the youngster need to work out his game . Along with Hetmyer ,
Shai Hope and Vishaul Singh were the weakest links in the West Indies line up ,
While Hope played an inning of substance at Barbados , he was rather seemed to
getting out in every other inning he played , here he was trapped by Hasan Ali
and Vishaul Singh reminded how dreadful selection can be by selectors . Seeing
him play was like Rajendra Chandrika
have been sent into middle order. With
him caught by Babar off Yasir , Pakistan nipped half of the side and once Shane
Dowrich was adjudged caught at silly point off Yasir , while the replays were
inconclusive West Indies were 6 down for 93 . The test seems to be heading to
an early finish before Jason Holder and Roston Chase led a remarkable rearguard,
after Holder was gone Bishoo came in and he eked out another 15 overs before
Hasan Ali bounced him out. But the Kind of Resilience which Joseph and Gabriel
shown almost spoiling Pakistan’s party was something that top order need to
learn
For Pakistan Yasir Shah ended with another 5 wicket haul,
his tally in 3 test series stood at 25 wickets at only 21.96. Hasan Ali bowled
his heart out in his first test and it looks Pakistan now have three top class
pacers in their line up .
Roston Chase hundred showed that West Indies have
problem solved at no 5 and with Kraig Brathwaite at no.1 at least two positions
are secured , though West Indies need to solve their dispute with Darren Bravo
, his experience could have been handy here. While Jason Holder must bat at
no.6 which will help them play another bowler in Miguel Cummins .
All these things though can wait for the next series
,till then Pakistan can soak in the glory of
Calypso flavour, which had tuned
to their beats for first time in 60
years.
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