Dubai: Devendra Bishoo produced a stupendous career best spell of 8 for 49 to pull West Indies back into the Test match after Yasir Shah’s five wicket spell of 5 for 121 had given Pakistan a healthy 222 run first innings lead.
Bishoo bowled out a Pakistan side (that made 579 for 3 in the first innings) for a paltry 123 runs in the second innings. West Indies need 346 runs to win the match.
It was bowlers’ day on the fourth day of the first Test at the Dubai International Stadium, with 16 wickets falling.
West Indies lost two wickets for 95 runs setting the stage for an exciting finish to the Test match on the last day. Leon Johnson (47) and Darren Bravo (26 n.o.) put on a 60 run partnership for the second wicket. West Indies need another 251 runs to win the match.
Bishoo’s recorded the best bowling figures ever in a Test match in the UAE beating Saeed Ajmal’s spell of 7 for 55 against England at this venue. His best before this was 6 for 80 against Australia at Roseau last year.
Earlier, Shah became the joint-second fastest bowler to take 100 Test wickets in his 17th Test match. Though West Indies fell 23 runs short of the follow on mark, Pakistan refused to enforce the follow on wanting the wicket to deteriorate.
Shah also became the fastest Asian bowler to reach the 100 wicket mark beating India’s Ravichandran Ashwin, who had reached the 100 wicket mark in his 18th Test and is now the second fastest to reach 200 wickets. Shah also went past his countryman Saeed Ajmal, who had bagged 100 wickets in 19 Test matches. It was a special moment for Shah as he had made his debut at this same venue in October 2014.
England’s right-arm medium-pacer George Lohmann is the fastest to reach 100 Test wickets in just 16 Test matches in 1896. Shah shares the second slot with Australia’s Charlie Turner and Clarrie Grimmett and England’s Sydney Barnes, who all reached this milestone in their 17th Test.
West Indies began the day at 315 for 6. In the fourth over of the day, Shah dismissed Shane Dowrich with a drifter that hit the pads. Even a review could not save him. It was Shah’s 98th wicket.
Skipper Jason Holder and Dowrich could add only 25 runs for the seventh wicket.
Bishoo and Holder took the score to 346 when Shah produced a googly to clean bowl Holder.
Shah’s 99th wicket was the result of Holder playing the wrong line, waiting for the leg break and allowing the ball to hit the off stump. When the West Indies skipper fell, their team still needed 34 more runs to avoid the follow on.
Shah almost trapped Miguel Cummins leg before with Pakistan skipper Misbah Ul Haq even calling for a review which went in Cummins’ favour.
However, Cummins did not last long. Shah bowled him with a good length leg-break to reach the 100 wicket mark as Cummins went for a swipe across the line. It was his seventh five wicket haul in Test cricket. Seven times he had also produced four wicket hauls.
Mohammad Nawaz ended West Indies by hitting Bishoo’s off stump. He had battled for 41 balls to score 17 runs but that was not enough to see West Indies past the follow on mark.
In the second innings, Shannon Gabriel trapped first innings triple century maker Azhar Ali leg before for 2. A ball earlier, Ali had successfully reviewed a caught behind decision. Next man Asad Shafiq swept at Bishoo and missed. Though the appeal for leg before was turned down, the review went in favour of the bowler. He lasted just nine balls to score five runs.
Babar Azam would have fell on four as he gloved a chest-high bouncer from Cummins to the wicketkeeper. Fortunately for Azam, a television replay showed Cummins had overstepped resulting in a no-ball. In the same over, Azam pulled Cummins elegantly to the boundary.
Opener Sami Azlam began to keep the score board moving briskly. He hit Bishoo’s first and last ball of the 16th over for boundaries. He added 57 runs in 11.4 overs for the third wicket, when Azam played Bishoo on to his wicket for 21.
Misbah joined Azlam and by the 19th over the lead swelled past the 300 run mark. Azlam fell six short of his fifty when he late cut Bishoo to Jermaine Blackwood. His 44 came off 61 balls with four boundaries.
