Abu Dhabi: Dengue or not, nothing can quell the batting fever Younis Khan carries with him.
The veteran batsman scored his 33rd hundred and 11th in the UAE in the second Test to give full evidence that the dreaded fever had not taken any toll on his ageing body and his sheen remains as good as his double hundred in the last innings against the Englishmen.
His knock of 127 off 205 balls coupled by the fourth wicket partnership of 175 off 266 balls with skipper Misbah ul-Haq (90 not out) has definitely passed on the ‘breakbone fever’ to the men from the Caribbean.
Younis got out caught at mid-wicket trying a slog sweep off-spinner Kraigg Brathwaite in the last over of first day’s play at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium and the scoreboard reading 304 for four in 84 overs. The mammoth total indicate that the Windies are in danger of yet another shock syndrome if they can’t find a vaccination to run through the remaining Pakistan batting line quickly on day 2.
Younis Khan with this knock also tops the charts of scoring most consecutive 100s — without being dismissed in the 90s — 31 in all. Australian great Don Bradman is second on that chart with 29 centuries. The only time Younis got out in the nervous 90s was in 2001 in Oakland against New Zealand, while on 91.
He brought his 31st half century with a double through covers and his only blip in this sublime innings came while he was on 83. Just before tea, Younis stepped out to Brathwaite but the latter spilled the knee-height return catch and that has already proved too costly for the Windies.
Earlier, Jason Holder’s heart would have sunk when he saw the spin of coin going Misbah’s way. The Pakistan captain, who is now tied with the legendary Imran Khan for captaining Pakistan in the most number of Tests (48 in total), clearly knows there is no two ways to go about an Abu Dhabi wicket — bat first and bat big. And he promptly chose to take the first share of the crease.
A lot was expected from last match triple-centurion Azhar Ali but his stay at the crease lasted for just nine deliveries and was out for a duck — chopping Shannon Gabriel’s delivery on to his stumps.
Leg spinner Devendra Bishoo, who shook Pakistan in the second innings with his 8 for 49, extracted turn straight away and Sami Aslam (6) was bowled through the gap between bat-pad.
However, that was it from Bishoo for the day as he couldn’t get any bite from the wicket or rather was not allowed to settle and was often carted around the park — especially by Younis whenever the leggie was brought back into the attack.
At lunch, Windies were 95 for 2 with Asad Shafiq on 54 Younis Khan on 29. Shafiq also got to the 3000-run mark in 75 innings but he would be utterly disappointed to get out against the run of play while on 63. He too chopped on, trying to cut Gabriel. Shaifq would be hugely disappointed as he had missed out on getting to the three-figure mark after getting past the half century in Dubai as well. Misbah then went on to get his 35th fifty soon after he set his 15th 100-run partnership in 49 innings with Younis, whose 100 came from 171 balls and was laced with eight fours and a six.
Scoreboard at close on the opening day of the second Test between Pakistan and West Indies played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Friday:
Pakistan, first innings
Sami Aslam b Bishoo 6
Azhar Ali b Gabriel 0
Asad Shaif b Gabriel 68
Younis Khan c Chase b Brathwaite 127
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 90
Yasir Shah not out 0
Extras: (lb6, nb7) 13
Total: (for four wkts; 84 overs) 304
To bat: Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Zulfiqar Babar, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Ali), 2-42 (Aslam), 3-129 (Shafiq), 4-304 (Younis)
Bowling: Gabriel 14-1-43-2 (7nb), Cummins 15-1-43-0, Holder 14-4-31-0, Bishoo 20-0-92-1, Chase 12-0-53-0, Brathwaite 9-0-36-1
West Indies: K. Brathwaite, L. Johsnon, D. Bravo, M. Samuels, J. Blackwood, R. Chase, S. Hope, J. Holder, D. Bishoo, M. Cummins, S. Gabriel
Umpires: Michael Gough (ENG) and Richard Illingworth (ENG)
TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
