Pakistan wrapped up a third series win over West Indies, taking a 2-0 lead into the third and final match in Sharjah next week as Yasir Shah once again bowled them to victory on day five of the second Test in Abu Dhabi.
Yasir took his Test wicket tally to 112 with figures of 6-124, Pakistan sealing a 133-run victory with a session to spare on day five and the in-form spinner walking away with ten wickets in the match.
The hosts began the day requiring six wickets for victory, West Indies needing to bat three sessions for a draw or a mammoth 285 more runs for what would have been a Herculean win to tie the series.
It was always highly unlikely that West Indies could deny Pakistan and once Jermaine Blackwood fell to Yasir five runs shy of his hundred, hope remained only in their wicket-keeper’s name not in the reality of their chances.
Roston Chase was the other overnight batsman taking on the challenge alongside Blackwood at the start of play but he couldn’t match his partner’s early efforts, falling in the tenth over of the morning as Yasir’s leg-spin spat.
Yasir's Test record
- Matches: 18, Innings: 35
- Wickets: 112, Average: 27.27
- BBI: 7-76 , BBM: 10-141
- 5WI: 8, 10WM: 2
Blackwood moved to a ninth Test fifty before Chase’s dismissal, continuing a measured innings that the Jamaican desperately needed after a run of just two fifties in his last 16 innings. It was clear Blackwood would need to go big and register a second Test century if West Indies were to take anything from this Test and keep their series hopes alive.
Unfortunately for Blackwood, and the West Indies, the 24-year-old could not convert. He eventually perished for 95, Yasir adding a fourth wicket to his tally in the fourth over of the new ball, this time his straight one doing the damage and bowling Blackwood on the inside as he played for turn.
That wicket perfectly highlighted the subtlety of Yasir’s bowling which was on full show here. His ability to mix sharp, big turn with variety bemusing batsmen and, as so often has been the case in his 18 Test matches to date, leading Pakistan’s charge to glory with the ball.
He soon had a fifth, accounting for West Indies captain Jason Holder to put his side on the brink with a second five-for of the series, the third in his last three Tests and eighth of his career.
The aggressive lines, coupled with the artful nuances of his armoury and the ability to crowd the bat on a deck taking a liking to his spin has been a constant of Pakistan’s success over the last two years. His importance to Misbah-ul-Haq’s outfit cannot be emphasised enough. Yasir providing the cutting edge that his disciplined colleagues need to complete their set.
It very much subscribes to the theory of “we set them up, you knock them down” and it obviously works. Pakistan has only lost four Tests since Yasir burst on the scene, winning 12 and drawing two with their leg-spinning lynchpin, a return that is certainly no coincidence.
And it wasn’t here either, Yasir only taking fours overs off in the day as Misbah asked his premier bowler to give him his all. As ever, Yasir was a willing general to the foot soldiers sharing the overs at the other end.
West Indies’ fight remained but their will continued to be broken steadily, Zulfiqar Babar’s first Test wicket since his last match in November 2015 leaving them teetering on the edge. Yasir had a sixth of his own in the following over, before Babar added a second to guarantee glory.
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