In their traditional batting style, the Men in Green collapsed on the first rain-hit day of the 2nd Test againstWest Indies.
The Windies, who won the first Test by 40 runs, displayed accurate bowling to contain the Pakistani batsmen, who scored 180, for the loss of 6 wickets.
The wicket at Warner Park cricket stadium is considered to be the best one for Test cricket and it has a good history of high totals. The analysts argue that now the Pakistanis cannot blame the pitch for their failure to bat well.
In the first Test, the losing side shifted the whole blame of defeat on the pitch in Guyana.
Pakistan’s batting drawbacks were exposed fully and it was not hard to assess that the team had no proper Test batsman.
Winning the toss, Pakistan elected to bat first. Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar opened the innings. Taufeeq fell for 11 and Hafeez was bowled for just 8. Thus, Pakistan lost two wickets on 22.
The one-down batsman, Azhar Ali, got off to a marvellous start. After the third and fourth wicket of, Asad Shafiq, and, Misbah-ul-Haq fell, Azhar was joined by Umar Akmal and both batsmen gave a tough time to the Windies.
Azhar scored 67 off 196 balls, while Umar lashed 56 off 88 deliveries before getting out.
At the end of the day, Mohammad Salman and Abdur Rehman were batting on 8 and 1 not out respectively.
From the Caribbean bowling line-up, Ravi Rampaul, outstripped with 3 wickets for just 40 runs while the skipper, Darren Sammy, and spinner, Devendra Bishoo, bowled out 1 player each.
Pakistan’s lacklustre first day has provoked cricket experts to predict that they can never win a Test on Caribbean soil. History shows that Team Pakistan has not defeated the Windies in any Test series at their home ground.
However, Pakistan did win the One Day International series 3-2 during this tour.
The Windies victory in the first Test was their first after a 17-match losing streak. Now they are confident and hopeful to claim the series by winning the 2nd and last Test.
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