Pakistan 387 (Shafique 160*, Babar 88, Warrican 6-112) and 77 for 2 (Babar 24*, Shafique 24*) beat West Indies 344 (Greaves 73, Chase 70, Sajid 4-85) and 117 (Sajid 4-32, Usman 4-39) by eight wickets
Pakistan made short work of West Indies on the fourth morning, cruising to an eight-wicket win with little drama. The West Indies lower order was polished off inside half an hour by Ali Usman, setting Pakistan a relatively academic chase of 75. Pakistan have struggled with fourth innings of late, but even for them, this was unlosable. Though the hosts picked up a couple of wickets, Pakistan were not to be denied a first away Test win in three years. It means the series ended 1-1, the third successive series between these sides to produce that scoreline, and got Babar Azam’s second stint as Test captain up and running.
Pakistan’s bowlers had done much of the hard work late last evening, but they came out this morning aware of the need to extinguish any hope the hosts may have harboured of posting a defendable total. They did not have to wait long for a breakthrough; Usman cleaned up Kemar Roach as he attempted a wild slog without the overnight score having moved.
Justin Greaves, who had battled without adding to the scoreboard, chopped on as soon as he tried to take Mohammad Ali on. With Brandon King unable to bat after the injury he picked up while running Babar out on Tuesday, it was down to the last pair. Shamar Joseph rode his luck through a couple of boundaries, but that was all he managed before top-edging Usman.
Pakistan began the chase slightly tentatively, and Imam-ul-Haq nicked off to Jayden Seales early on. However, they ensured West Indies could never really burst through the floodgates as the runs kept ticking along, and even when Azan Awais edged onto his stumps, Babar and Abdullah Shafique, the batting heroes of the first innings, steadied the innings. After lunch, Babar danced down the wicket to deposit Jomel Warrican for successive sixes to secure the win that broke their eight-match losing streak away from home and sends them to England with a semblance of momentum.
