Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s disciplined effort with the bat on Day 3 helped his team overtake West Indies and stretch their second-innings lead past 150 in the first Test at Jamaica. Babar ended the day with an unbeaten 54 off 139 balls, enabling the visitors a lead of 160 with five wickets still intact.
With Pakistan bowlers taking the last two West Indies wickets quickly and limiting the hosts’ advantage down to just 37 runs early on August 15, the tourists had their skipper then taking the onus upon himself to gain them the ascendency.
On a hard-fought day, Babar batted 139 deliveries for his 17th Test half-century and allowed Pakistan to recover from a precarious situation. They were 65/4 at one stage, with a lead of only 29 runs, but Babar held his end firm and stitched crucial partnerships with Mohammad Rizwan (30) and Faheem Ashraf (12*) to overhaul the deficit by another 131 runs.
From West Indies’ perspective, experienced paceman Kemar Roach (2/15) and youngster Jayden Seales (2/50) were amongst the wickets, while Jason Holder (1/27) and Kyle Mayers (0/19) kept the breaks on scoring from an end. But to tilt the scales decisively in their favour, the hosts needed to get past Babar early in the piece, having missed out on the opportunity with the bat to have a significant first-innings lead.
Apart from Babar, opening batsman Abid Ali (34) and No.3 Azhar Ali (23) too batted nicely whilst they were in, but didn’t capitalise on their start to produce something substantial. In difficult batting conditions, Pakistan would feel thankful they had an in-form Rizwan stitching a crucial 56-run stand with their skipper to give them some solidity before he was dismissed.
The visitors would be willing on Babar, Faheem and their lower-order to add at least another 70-80 runs on Day 4, which would put Windies under great pressure in the final innings.
Brief scores
Pakistan 217 & 160/5 (Babar Azam 54*, Abid Ali 34; Kemar Roach 2/15, Jayden Seales 2/50) lead West Indies 253 (Kraigg Brathwaite 97, Jason Holder 58; Shaheen Afridi 4/59, Mohammad Abbas 3/43) by 124 runs.
