SHARJAH: West Indies defeated Pakistan by five wickets on the fifth day of the final Test match played at Sharjah on Thursday.
West Indies chased the remaining 39 runs in less than an hour on the fifth day of the final Test match. Both Kraigg Brathwaite and Shane Dowrich were unbeaten on 60.
Skipper Jason Holder took a maiden five-wicket haul and opener Brathwaite stood firm in a tense chase to bring West Indies in sight of a consolation win on Wednesday.
Holder set his team — without a win in their last 13 Tests — on the right path with a career-best 5-30 to dismantle Pakistan for 208, which gave the West Indies a target of 153 in 135 overs spread over four sessions.
When bad light forced closure nine overs early on the fourth and penultimate day, Brathwaite was unbeaten on 44 to anchor West Indies to 114-5, still needing 39 runs with five wickets intact.
Brathwaite, who carried his bat in the first innings with 142, has so far added 47 runs for the sixth wicket with Shane Dowrich (36 not out) to lift West Indies from a struggling 67-5.
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said “it could still go either way”.
“We are two wickets away from being favourites and this can happen in two balls,” he added. “We should have scored big in the first innings and a below par score of 281 left us play chasing games.”
From 23 without loss, West Indies slumped to 67-5 with leg-spinner Yasir Shah (3-30) dismissing Leon Johnson leg-before for 12, Darren Bravo caught behind for three and Marlon Samuels caught in the deep for 10 in the space of 13 balls.
Paceman Wahab Riaz then had Jermaine Blackwood bowled for four with a sharp incoming delivery and Roston Chase caught flicking by a jumping Mohammad Nawaz for two to bring Pakistan back in the game.
It could have been worse for the West Indies had Pakistan not dropped two catches in the first three overs.
With only a single scored, Johnson on nought edged Mohammad Amir’s fifth delivery of the innings to third slip, where Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq grassed a simple catch.
Johnson again survived a slip catch on three when Sami Aslam dropped another straightforward opportunity at first slip off a luckless Amir, hurting Pakistan’s chances of early wickets.
Pakistan lead the three-match series 2-0 after winning the first Test in Dubai by 56 runs and second by 133 runs in Abu Dhabi.
