The Multan Test continued to move forward at full-throttle on a treacherous pitch on Day 2 as Pakistan finished 76/4 in chase of 254 against West Indies. The visitors started Day 2 with a nine-run lead but also with the awareness that Pakistan’s spinners could run riot on a spin haven of a surface. West Indies, thus, batted with counter-attacking intent and did well across a little over two sessions to post a daunting target. Pakistan lost their openers early but had Babar Azam steadying the ship, only to fall less than 10 minutes from stumps.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite headlined his team’s attempts to get quick runs, resorting to sweeps and reverse-sweeps against Pakistan spinners in the morning session. He was successful early on, scoring a brisk half-century in the company of No.3 batter Amir Jangoo, who shrugged his first-innings return of a golden duck to score his first runs in the format. Brathwaite found himself on the right side of four DRS calls, two taken by himself and two by Pakistan, to reach his milestone but couldn’t make that count further as he fell to first-innings hattrick hero Noman Ali.

Debutant Jangoo meanwhile, towed the line established by his captain, taking risks with sweeps and drives. One such attempt ended his stay however, giving Sajid Khan a wicket. Eager to push through, Pakistan lost all their reviews before Lunch but managed to break through two more times, as Noman snuffed out Alick Athanaze and Kavem Hodge.

The difference between Pakistan seizing full control and West Indies walking off at stumps being optimistic about series parity depended on how the second session transpired. West Indies forged ahead through small but significant contributions from the quartet of Tevin Imlach (35), Kevin Sinclair (28), Gudakesh Motie (18) and Jomel Warrican (18). Even these four fought fire with fire as the ball still spun viciously.

Abrar Ahmed broke early in the second session, dismissing Justin Greaves and leaving West Indies down to 145/6. From this point on, Imlach and Sinclair added the most important partnership of the innings that pushed their lead to 200. Sajid Khan ended that alliance with the wicket of Sinclair and Imlach became the only victim to pacer Kashif Ali after an astute stay of 57 balls. Motie and Warrican then frustrated Pakistan by adding 27 more runs to loosen the home team’s grip on the game. Even when this stand was broken, an injured Kemar Roach hobbled out to the middle and faced 17 deliveries to add 11 runs with Warrican before the latter was dismissed to end the innings.

Pakistan had a rocky start to their chase of 254 as Sinclair and Motie trapped Shan Masood and Muhammad Hurraira leg before respectively to reduce them to 5/2. Azam and Kamran Ghulam pushed back for a brief period before the latter perished while trying to take on Warrican.

Saud Shakeel and Azam nearly got to the end of day’s play without further damage to Pakistan, but Sinclair struck again. Azam was undecided whether to commit to defending a loopy length ball that turned in sharply. He went for it in the end, clipping it onto his front pad which then lobbed up to Athanaze at short leg. Nightwatchman Kashif Ali batted out 10 deliveries and Pakistan went to stumps, still needing 178 runs to win. West Indies meanwhile, are six wickets away from sharing the series spoils.

Brief scores:
Pakistan 154 & 76/4 (Babar Azam 31; Kevin Sinclair 2-41) trail West Indies 163 & 244 (Kraigg Brathwaite 52, Tevin Imlach 35, Kevin Sinclair 28; Sajid Khan 4-76, Noman Ali 4-80) by 178 runs