Spinners carry Pakistan to comfortable 127-run victory over West Indies, take 1-0 lead in Test series

The Pakistan spin trio of Sajid Khan, Abrar Ahmed and Noman Ali dominated against the West Indian batters throughout the match and guided the Men in Green to a comprehensive victory

Spinners Sajid Khan (5/50) and Abrar Ahmed (4/27) guided Pakistan to victory in the first Test of the 2-match series against West Indies in Multan on Sunday. Sajid also took 4 wickets in the first match and finished with highly impressive figures of 9/115 and was also awarded with the Player of the Match award.

West Indies could only manage to score 137 and 123 runs in the first and second innings respectively as the Men in Green easily won the match by 127 runs.

In the visitors’ second innings, batter Alick Athanaze hit 55, the only half-century of the match for the Windies, and added 41 runs for the sixth wicket with Tevin Imlach. Sajid removed the dangerous Athanaze, while Abrar’s haul included the final wicket of Jomel Warrican.

Warrican had led the spin attack for the tourists with a career-best 7-32 as Pakistan were bowled out for 157 in their second innings. They were the best figures by a West Indian bowler in Pakistan, topping fast bowler Malcolm Marshall’s 5-33 at Lahore in 1986.

Pakistan captain Shan Masood praised his spinners but said he wanted to see an improvement in the side’s batting.

“The spinners were clinical and Abrar along with Noman and Sajid was great, Batting was tough on this pitch but we still need to add more runs with the last few wickets and there are improvements to be made,” Masood said.