West Indies look to carry pink-ball fight into red-ball contest

Match facts

October 21-25, 2016 Start time 10am local time (0600 GMT)

Big Picture

After lop-sided T20 and ODI series, West Indies fought to make the day-night Test in Dubai a thriller. While Pakistan eventually won in the last hour of play on the fifth day, they had to work hard for the 1-0 lead as West Indies showed resilience for two long days, thanks to Darren Bravo’s plucky 116. Bravo held the side’s chase together, taking the team to within 83 runs of the target of 346 before being dismissed.

West Indies also had other strong performances – Devendra Bishoo’s record 8 for 49, and Marlon Samuels’ 76 in the first innings – and through their performance in the second innings appeared to have regrouped as a team after the limited-overs losses.

The attention on the day-night Test and the pink ball will now shift to the traditional day game and the red ball. For Pakistan, the likely return of Younis Khan, who was added to the squad after recovering from dengue fever, will be a boost to a batting line-up that floundered without his calming influence in the second innings in Dubai. Azhar Ali’s form at the top of the order will be important, as will Yasir Shah, but West Indies can look at Bravo’s innings in Dubai for lessons on how to tackle Yasir. A 3-0 scoreline is not unlikely for Pakistan but they will probably have to work harder for it than they had to in the limited-overs series.

Form guide

Pakistan: WWLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)West Indies: LDLDL

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