Pakistan and West Indies shared the first day between themselves, but rain made sure to take some from their share as well. The day saw the two teams trading momentum, but the hosts managed to end the day slightly ahead after a steady last session.
Pakistan pacers dominate early
Pakistan found out pretty early on that spin wouldn’t bring them as much success. Babar Azam stuck to his pace options, with the sole spinner, Ali Usman, coming in to bowl an over here and there. The conditions at the start hardly gave West Indies any scoring opportunities. Between the rain interruptions and Pakistan’s relentless pace bowling, West Indies could only score 23 runs in the 14 overs that were bowled in the first session. From this tally, Abbas bowled seven, of which five were maidens.
Hodge and Chanderpaul steady the innings
The dominance created by Pakistan’s pacers continued when rain stopped play for around a couple of hours, which also saw the two teams take an early lunch. The session, however, turned slightly towards West Indies, and Hodge and Chanderpaul started building a partnership between them. The stand went on to get past the 50-run mark and it seemed the pressure that the conditions had helped Pakistan build was vanishing.
Babar turned to Aamer Jamal, who repaid his faith, and got the team a breakthrough. It was Tagenarine Chanderpaul who nicked an outside-off delivery straight into Salman Ali Agha’s hands at second slip.
West Indies regain momentum
But Jamal’s brilliance was short-lived as the incoming batter Aamir Jangoo and Hodge targeted him to relieve the pressure created by Abbas and Ali. The run rate crossed three for the first time during the day, and even though Abbas got rid of Jangoo after a review forced the umpire to reverse his decision in Pakistan’s favour, the momentum stayed on.
The third session turned out to be far quieter than the two before it. The runs kept coming steadily, though Pakistan’s pacers kept things under control, and no wicket fell thereafter. The day ended after 67 overs, with West Indies stable at 194 for three.
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