Pakistan ended their tour to West Indies with a win in the second Test by 109 runs in Kingston and leveled the Test series 1-1 last week.The first Test was won by the West Indies in a thrilling encounter by 1 wicket, also in Kingston.

The Green-shirts maintained the record of not losing a two-Test bilateral series against West Indies since 2000. It was the seventh consecutive Test series against the West Indies without a defeat. In 2005, 2011 and 2021, West Indies took the lead at home, but Pakistan always bounced back and leveled the series.

With the second Test win Pakistan moved to second place along with West Indies in the ICC World Test Championship (2021-2023) points table.

The visitors lost their first three wickets just for two runs in the first four overs.

The previous occasion of a team winning a Test after being three wickets down for 2 or fewer runs was when Pakistan defeated India in the Karachi Test in 2006. The home side was 0-3 after Irfan Pathan took a hat-trick in the first over, but Pakistan ended the Test with a huge 341 runs victory.

Bad weather could have prevented Pakistan from winning the second Test, but a positive approach and targeted bowling rewarded us with a remarkable 109-run win.

During the series there was also improvement in the Pakistan fielding, especially slips catching. Abid Ali, Babar Azam and Fawad Alam took some marvelous catches that improved the confidence of the bowlers.

Shaheen Shah Afridi took a career-best figure 6-51 in the first innings and match figures of 10-94. He took 18 wickets in the series at an average of 11.28.

Shaheen is the first Pakistani fast bowler in two decades to claim a 10-wicket match figure in the West Indies. The last Pakistani fast bowler to do so was Wasim Akram who took 11-110 at St. John’s.

The 21-year-old left-arm fast bowler’s 18 wickets in the two-match series is most by a Pakistani fast bowler in a two-Test series. Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Asif took 17 wickets each, the former against Australia in 2018 and the latter Sri Lanka in 2006.

Shaheen reached his career-best eighth position in the ICC Test bowlers ranking.

Delighted Pakistan captain Babar Azam said that he was confident of taking “bold decisions” as he trusted his bowlers to take all 10 West Indies wickets in the second innings.

He praised his teammates, especially Shaheen Afridi and batsman Fawad Alam.

He admired Shaheen Afridi’s performance, saying, “He is really young, and the way he is grooming himself and performing for Pakistan shows he is such a good talent, he is improving day-by-day, and learning as well.”

Azam also appreciated Fawad Alam for his contributions, who scored his fifth Test century in the second Test, fourth since his comeback last year. Fawad joined Babar when Pakistan were 2 for 3 in the first innings. He remained unbeaten on 124.

Fawad Alam has become the fastest Pakistani player to score five centuries in Test cricket. The left-hander reached five hundreds in only his 22nd Test innings. Former Pakistani cricketer Younis Khan had scored five tons in 28 innings.

Fawad also became the quickest Asian batsman to score five Test centuries, surpassing India’s Cheteshwar Pujara (24 innings), Sourav Ganguly (25 innings), and Sunil Gavaskar (25 innings).

With his consistent performance, Fawad Alam went up 34 positions to career-best 21st position. His previous best in the rankings was 47th in May earlier this year.

Babar was the most successful batsman of the Test series with 193 runs, averaging 48.25, including two fifties. Fawad scored 180 runs in three innings with one hundred and one fifty, at an average of 90.

Pakistan openers again failed to provide a solid foundation. Abid Ali (73) and Imran Butt (49) collectively scored only 122 runs in the series. Experienced Azhar Ali also failed to deliver at number 3 as he managed only 62 runs in four innings at an average of 15.50.

Jason Holder scored 147 runs for the West Indies, averaging 36.75 with one half-century.

Fast bowlers’ dominated the Test series with 66 wickets — the second highest for a two-Test series.

For the West Indies, Jayden Seales was the most successful bowler with 11 scalps.

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