Pakistan in West Indies 2026, WI vs PAK 1st Test Match Report, July 25 – 29, 2026

In his first innings since dropping the captaincy, Masood got here inside a whisker of chopping his first supply on, and it set the tone for the rub of the inexperienced that continued to fall his means. Jomel Warrican put down a pointy probability two balls later, and one other burst by means of the slips early in his innings. However Masood caught to his sport plan, persevering with to choose up common boundaries, whether or not or not he was in charge of the pictures they got here off. By the point he reached his half-century – at higher than a run a ball, his management share stood at 71%, with half of his ten boundaries coming of both inside or outdoors edge.

Imam-ul-Haq performed a quieter supporting function, sometimes pouncing on the fuller supply, however content material to observe the drama unfold from the opposite finish. The pair raced to a 95-run partnership by tea, turning the momentum of the sport round in a session West Indies‘ quick bowlers will really feel they deserved extra from.

That was the way in which Ali may need felt yesterday, however he acquired his rewards on the prime of the session as we speak. Shamar Joseph and Hope had pissed off Pakistan earlier than lunch however it took Ali simply two balls to bounce Joseph out after which nip one in sharply to Hope to lure him in entrance. It took him simply two extra balls to wrap the innings up, which was particularly precious for a Pakistan aspect which were responsible of struggling to tear by means of the tail effectively of late.

Pakistan acquired the outdated ball to speak within the morning and saved knocking West Indies‘ batters over recurrently, getting 4 wickets earlier than lunch. They’d spent a turgid closing session on Saturday wicketless, however West Indies had managed no boundaries both, and thus have been on no account out of sight. Khurram Shahzad drew the top-scorer Kavem Hodge into prodding at a large one which Salman Agha grasped comfortably inside the primary three overs of the day which set Pakistan on their means.

It adopted an hour of performs and misses because the outdated ball nipped and swung sharply. Pakistan’s seam bowlers have been criticised for missing tempo, however they made up for it with wobble, frequently discomfiting the batters. Awais put down a golden alternative to do away with Hope when he nicked Ali off to the slips, however Ali’s persistence finally paid off as that probing off stump line discovered Justin Greaves‘ outdoors edge, with Salman Agha guaranteeing he made no mistake as soon as extra.

Curiously, the brand new ball appeared to dilute the menace the seam bowlers posed, however on no account extinguished it. Whereas Hope appeared largely snug for the remainder of the session, he was very a lot on his personal in that side. Mohammad Abbas‘ attribute accuracy discovered a feather off Roston Chase’s outdoors edge, whereas Khurram Shahzad got here again to extinguish Kemar Roach’s cussed resistance to cut back West Indies to seven down.

Shamar Joseph performed a breezy little cameo to get West Indies over 300, however Ali ensured they would not pull an excessive amount of additional forward, and Masood spent the remainder of the session swiftly slicing that lead right down to measurement