Azam, Alam lead Pakistan's recovery on first day

Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales struck early, but Pakistan ended the first session well

Lunch: Pakistan 62 for 3 (Azam 31*, Alam 26*) v West Indies

It’s difficult to win a session inside four overs, but West Indies accomplished exactly that at Sabina Park on the first morning, removing Pakistan’s top three to reduce them to three down for two runs. The nascent Pakistan recovery that followed, inspired by captain Babar Azam, ensured there was no further bloodletting till lunch, but the 60-run partnership he’s accumulated with Fawad Alam needs significant adding to if Pakistan are to get back to a position of parity.

Winning the toss, Kraigg Brathwaite had little hesitation putting Pakistan’s embattled top order in to bat, and inside ten minutes, it became apparent why. Abid Ali lasted just three deliveries, pushing – without real footwork and with disappointing familiarity – at one from Kemar Roach around the fourth stump line, edging to Jermaine Blackwood in the slips. Azhar Ali became Roach’s next victim, falling for a duck in similar style, with the ball kissing the outside edge and leaving the secure Joshua da Silva to do the rest. Jayden Seales piled on the misery for Pakistan, inducing the hapless Imran Butt into a forward defensive prod that, on review, was shown to have tickled the outside edge. Aside from Irfan Pathan’s famous first-over hat-trick at Karachi, this would be Pakistan’s joint-worst Test match start in history.

If that represented rock bottom, Azam and Alam used it as a solid enough foundation to begin the rebuild. Both looked vulnerable against an irrepressible seam bowling display from Seales and Roach early on, but the Pakistan captain looked to break out of it by aggression. A mistimed slash over point brought him his first runs, and from there, batting looked to have become easier for Pakistan’s premier batsman. Alzarri Joseph was greeted with consecutive boundaries off his first two balls, and as West Indies rotated their five fast bowlers, he refused to let them settle.

It was less straightforward for Alam, even if he ended up at around the same score as his captain. He looked particularly vulnerable around his off stump, Jason Holder and Roach in particular beating his outside edge a number of times, while three of his four boundaries came off thick edges to the slips. However, with survival the primary goal after the circumstances in which the two came together, Pakistan will view the last hour and 50 minutes of the session as mission accomplished.

Danyal Rasool is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Danny61000

This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.

Azam, Alam lead Pakistan’s recovery on first day

Products You May Like

Leave a Reply Cancel reply