TAROUBA: Pakistan struck four times in the morning session to wrest back control of the first Test against the West Indies, but Shai Hope’s stubborn unbeaten 89 and a late burst from Shamar Joseph helped the hosts reach 303-7 at lunch on the second day at the Brian Lara Stadium on Sunday.
Resuming at 194-3, the West Indies lost Kavem Hodge, Justin Greaves, Roston Chase and Kemar Roach during a disciplined session from Pakistan’s bowlers.
Hope, however, remained unmoved at the other end, while Joseph’s 23 off 12 balls, including four fours and a six, provided a late injection of runs as the West Indies crossed the 300 mark.
Pakistan made the perfect start when Khurram Shahzad dismissed Hodge with the first ball of the day. Continuing to probe the fifth-stump line,
Khurram induced Hodge into a loose prod and the resulting edge flew to Salman Ali Agha at second slip.
Hodge’s dogged 84 came off 183 balls and included nine fours. He had spent more than four hours at the crease on the opening day, helping the West Indies recover from 106-3 alongside Hope.
Mohammad Ali then produced an impressive spell to remove Greaves for 15. The seamer repeatedly created uncertainty by attacking the channel outside off and eventually found the edge, with Salman Agha taking another sharp catch at second slip.
Hope, meanwhile, continued to hold the West Indies innings together. The right-hander, who was unbeaten on 39 overnight, completed his seventh Test half-century and moved to 89 not out from 176 deliveries, with six fours and a six.
Roston Chase briefly threatened to accelerate the scoring before Mohammad Abbas claimed his third wicket of the match. The experienced seamer found the outside edge and Mohammad Rizwan completed the catch behind the stumps to dismiss the West Indies captain for 10.
Khurram then struck again to remove Kemar Roach for three, Babar Azam taking the catch at slip.
The West Indies were 274-7 when Joseph arrived at the crease, but the left-hander immediately changed the mood. He launched Abbas over long-on for six before striking Khurram for two boundaries in the following over, taking the hosts past 300.
The morning session yielded 109 runs and four wickets, giving Pakistan a significant advantage after the West Indies had appeared well placed at the start of play.
HODGE, HOPE SOLID ON DAY 1
On the rain-affected first day of the match, Hodge’s dogged unbeaten 83 and the support of Hope in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand took the West Indies to a solid position.
The BTest cricket’s newest venue — the 13th in the Caribbean — offered a pitch which made free scoring difficult while the tourists’ seam-based attack lacked the necessary firepower to compensate for the turgid surface.
Hodge displayed the necessary application in four hours at the crease with only Abbas’ persistence presenting him with any significant challenges in an innings so far occupying 181 deliveries, embellished by nine boundaries.
Fresh from a century earlier in the month in the second and final Test against Sri Lanka in Antigua, Hope batted with calm assurance, his knock of 39 not out in partnership with Hodge taking the home side from the unease of 106 for three in mid-afternoon.
Persistent rain allowed for just over an hour’s play after West Indies captain Chase won the toss and opted to bat.
In that time Abbas made an early strike when Brandon King dragged a wide delivery onto his stumps.
When play resumed half-an-hour after the scheduled lunch interval, Hodge and the other opener, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, pushed their second-wicket stand to 51 before Aamer took the edge of Chanderpaul’s bat for Salman to take the catch at second slip.
Abbas, the senior man in a comparatively inexperienced Pakistan bowling attack, then trapped Amir Jangoo, leg-before, the on-field decision of not out being overturned on review to the Decision Review System.
“It was a reasonably good day for us although we would have liked to have taken a couple more wickets,” said Abbas in reflecting on the day’s effort in which he finished with figures of two for 44 from 19 overs. “This pitch is a bit slow. It was covered the day before the match so you have to work really hard to get something from it.”
He was the only one to trouble Hodge during the final session, earning an LBW verdict against the right-hander from Dominica before it was overturned on review while another leg-before shout two overs later was close, but not close enough for the television technology to prompt a change to the on-field not out decision.
Pakistan’s seam bowlers, with the notable exception of Aamer who conceded 54 runs in ten overs, kept the West Indies batsmen in check without appearing to be threatening.
Ali Usman, the debutant left-arm spinner, bowled 12 economical overs without ever appearing to present a significant danger to his opponents.
Scoreboard
WEST INDIES (1st Innings, overnight 194-3):
T. Chanderpaul c Salman b Aamer21
B. King b Abbas12
K. Hodge c Salman b Khurram84
A. Jangoo lbw b Abbas21
S. Hope not out89
J. Greaves c Salman b Ali15
R. Chase c Rizwan b Abbas10
K. Roach c Babar b Khurram3
S. Joseph not out23
EXTRAS (B-6, LB-6, NB-10, W-3)25
TOTAL (for seven wickets, 96 overs) 303
STILL TO BAT: J. Warrican, J. Seales
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 (King), 2-64 (Chanderpaul), 3-106 (Jangoo), 4-197 (Hodge), 5-231 (Greaves), 6-257 (Chase), 7-274 (Roach)
BOWLING: Abbas 26-6-63-3 (1w, 2nb), Khurram 23-5-66-2 (5nb), Ali 20-5-47-1 (1w, 3nb), Usman 12-1-34-0, Aamer 15-1-81-1 (1w)
PAKISTAN: Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Aamer Jamal, Ali Usman, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Abbas
Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2026