DUBAI: In-form Pakistan are ready to launch a spin assault on an off-colour West Indies in Asia’s first day-night Test to be played with a pink ball in Dubai from Thursday.

Australia and New Zealand were involved in the inaugural day-night match in Adelaide last November — the first-ever played with a pink ball in Test cricket’s 140-year history.

Australia will also host a day-night Test each against South Africa and Pakistan in the next two months, an innovation to address the dwindling crowds in the longer format of the game.

Pakistan have more than one reason to do well at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium as the match is their 400th Test since playing their first in India in 1952.

A win will not only cap the historic occasion but will give them an ideal preparation for a two-match tour of New Zealand next month followed by three Tests in Australia where they have to prove their credentials as a top team.

Pakistan have been on a roll since their 2-2 drawn series in England in August which briefly lifted them to number one position for the first time since rankings were introduced in 2003.

Arch-rivals India displaced Pakistan to No 2 with victory over New Zealand earlier this month but Misbah-ul-Haq’s men have a good chance of closing the gap in the three-match series against the West Indies

Pakistan captain Misbah showed excitement over a day-night Test, where play will be from 3:30-10:30 pm local time (4:30pm to 10:30pm PST) with two breaks of half-an hour each.

“It’s exciting because I think future belongs to day-night Tests,” said Misbah. “We have to make it more exciting by fighting hard and not take West Indies lightly.”Pakistan had adopted the coloured ball concept six years ago when they hosted the final of their premier first-class tournament with an orange ball and repeated that with pink balls in 2011 and this year.

Contrastingly, the West Indies cricket is not in the pink of health.

Their head coach Phil Simmons who guided them to World Twenty20 title in April this year was sacked on the day when the team boarded the plane to UAE.

That hit them hard as Pakistan routed them 3-0 in both Twenty20 and one-day series.

Their captain Jason Holder, however, put up a brave face and promises a better fight.

“We have some new faces in Tests so we will do our best,” said Holder whose team lost 2-0 to India in a four-match series in August.

West Indies’ only experience of playing with pink ball came when they drew a three-day side game in Sharjah, with leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo taking five wickets and batsmen Darren Bravo and Shai Hopes hitting half-centuries.

The current side has been bolstered with the inclusion of Babar Azam and Mohammad Nawaz in the Test squad after they displayed marvellous skills throughout the limited-overs fixtures.

Babar was the find of the ODI series with three consecutive centuries. He is also certain to make his Test debut in the absence of seasoned batsman Younis Khan, who still recovering from dengue.

The remaining two Tests will be played in Abu Dhabi (October 21-25) and Sharjah (October 30-November 3).

Teams (from):

PAKISTAN: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Imran Khan, Zulfiqar Babar.

WEST INDIES: Jason Holder (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite (vice-captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Leon Johnson, Alzarri Joseph, Marlon Samuels, Jomel Warrican.

Umpires: Richard Illingworth (England) and Paul Reiffel (Australia).

TV umpire: Ian Gould (England).

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn October 12th, 2016