After lunch on Day 3, Sajid Khan’s five-wicket haul and Abrar Ahmed’s four wickets helped Pakistan beat the West Indies by 127 runs in the first Test in Multan.
The West Indies were bowled out for just 123 in their second innings, giving Pakistan a comfortable win in less than three days. This was the shortest Men’s Test completed in Pakistan (by balls bowled).
The match was completed after 1064 balls, however, the last record was 1080 balls in the match between Pakistan and West Indies in 1990.
Before lunch, the West Indies struggled at 54/5, with Sajid having already taken apart their top order for the second time in the match. Alick Athanaze fought back with a half-century, but Abrar took three of the last four wickets, leaving the West Indies all out on 123.
Before lunch, Athanaze had some support from wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach, and together they held off Pakistan for nine overs. Athanaze played some nice shots, making 41 runs in a partnership with Imlach.
But after that, the West Indies fell apart. Imlach was caught behind for 14, and Athanaze was out for 50 when Sajid trapped him LBW.
Pakistan widen the gap at the bottom of the #WTC25 table, but West Indies can still overtake them if they win the second Test in Multan #PAKvWI pic.twitter.com/qlAtxoOhuZ
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 19, 2025
This gave Sajid his fifth wicket. The West Indies lost the last three wickets quickly, with Abrar getting two of them.
At one point, Abrar was close to making history as the first Pakistani spinner to take a hat-trick at home. He had already dismissed Kevin Sinclair and Gudakesh Motie in the previous over and was so close to getting Jomel Warrican out for a hat-trick.
However, after the match Pakistani skipper Shan Masood shared Pakistan’s new “spin it to win it” approach and stated, “We will do what we need to take 20 wickets and win the match, We don’t even play domestic cricket in these conditions. It’s a new thing for us as well. We changed it during the England series because we wanted our team to win. We should appreciate the hard work of our bowlers, who got us 20 wickets consistently.”
“We can’t pit our bowlers and batters against each other. The hardest thing to do here was batting and fast bowling. West Indies didn’t score 141 in either of their innings and yet we had one partnership do it. The mistake is we should maybe have tried to string a few partnerships around that big one. Performances aren’t just about scoring centuries. In some conditions, 10-20 extra runs can make all the difference.” Masood added.
Earlier, the West Indies had a brief revival thanks to Warrican’s outstanding bowling. He took seven wickets and two run-outs in Pakistan’s second innings, helping to trigger a collapse where Pakistan lost six wickets for just 48 runs. Pakistan was all out for 157, leaving the West Indies with a target of 251.
On the third morning, despite foggy weather, play began on time, and Warrican immediately made an impact. Pakistan’s top-scorer from the first innings, Saud Shakeel, was out first ball after flicking a catch to short mid-wicket.
Mohammad Rizwan followed soon after, caught in the slips off a sharp delivery from Warrican. Kamran Ghulam was also out to a ball that spun sharply, giving Warrican his fifth wicket.
In the West Indies’ second innings, Sajid Khan was on the attack again. He quickly took the four wickets of the West Indies again like he did in the first innings. He claimed the wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite, who was out trying to sweep, and Keacy Carty, who gloved one to Rizwan.
Sajid then bowled a beautiful delivery that went through the gates and bowled out Kavem Hodge, and next, Mikyle Louis was out after missing a shot. Justin Greaves had a close LBW call overturned but was out soon after, leaving the West Indies struggling at 54/5 at lunch while chasing 251 on the spin-friendly track of Multan.
After lunch, Pakistan’s spinners continued to dominate, and the West Indies were bowled out for 123. With that, Pakistan sealed the victory by 127 runs, wrapping up a dominant win.
The second and last test match of the series will be played in the same venue on 25th January 2025.
Pakistan 230 (Shakeel 84, Rizwan 71, Seales 3-27) and 157 (Masood 52, Warrican 7-32) beat West Indies 137 (Warrican 31*, Noman 5-39, Sajid 4-65) and 123 (Athanaze 55, Sajid 5-50, Abrar 4-27) by 127 runs
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Jasir Basharat is a cricket enthusiast capturing the heart of the game through insightful analysis and storytelling sharing his passion for the sport through engaging narratives. He is a business graduate from University of Kashmir.
