BARBADOS (May 5, 2017): YASIR Shah’s stranglehold of the West Indies has continued on the fourth day of the second Test at Kensington Oval in Barbados, with the leg-spinner snaring 6-90 to reopen the prospect of a first-ever Test match victory at the venue for Pakistan going into the final day.
akistan legspinner Yasir Shah took his 10th Test five-for, finishing with 6-90, including the key wickets of Shai Hope for 90 and Kraigg Brathwaite for 43.
Hope was caught high at cover by Azhar Ali as West Indies went from 235-4 to 236-7 after tea at Kensington Oval.
Devendra Bishoo (16) and Shannon Gabriel (0) are the last men at the crease for West Indies.
Pakistan leads the three-match series 1-0 and is seeking its first Test-series win in the Caribbean but West Indies can still pose problems by staying around Thursday for as long as possible.
If Pakistan needs to chase a target of over 200, the run-chase would become interesting, especially if Pakistan scores slowly – it only managed 54 runs in the entire morning session on Tuesday – or if early wickets tumble. In the first Test, Pakistan gave up three wickets in its final innings before successfully chasing only 32.
But the West Indies players have made it very hard work for themselves. At one point after tea, they were more than 150 runs ahead with six wickets left and Hope approaching his maiden Test century after coming into bat with an average of only 15.
Hope was dismissed by Yasir at the end of the 89th over after sharing an 80-run partnership with Vishaul Singh. In the next delivery by Mohammad Abbas (2-57), Singh hit the ball onto his stumps, out for 32.
It got even worse in the next over with West Indies down to 236-7 after Yasir dismissed Jason Holder (1), whose edge hit the wicketkeeper’s glove before Younis Khan did well to hold the ball after fumbling his first attempt.
Earlier on Wednesday, West Indies started the afternoon session on 112-3 and scored 85 runs for the loss of only Roston Chase (23), who sent the ball back to bowler Yasir in the 60th over. Chase shared a valuable 58-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Hope.
In the morning, after resuming on 40-1 overnight and still 41 runs behind, West Indies lost Shimron Hetmyer (22) for the addition of just one run, with the left-hander clean bowled by Mohammad Amir (1-44) in the 17th over.
Brathwaite helped steady the home side before he was caught at first slip by Younis off a delivery from Yasir for 43 in the 34th.
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