Pakistan vs West Indies 1st Test 2016 Day 1 13-10-2016 Shahid Afridi waseem akram analysis game on hai part 2
After Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss in Pakistan's 400th Test, his openers played their part in ensuring that the landmark match got off to a dominating start for them. Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam stroked unbeaten fifties by the dinner break to take the side to a formidable 172 for no loss on a typically flat Dubai surface.
In theory, both teams were in unchartered territory, playing their first day-night Test - and the second overall - at a time when the concept was still new and the behaviour of the pink ball under scrutiny. In practice, the ball did not do much in the afternoon heat and, while there was a bit more for the West Indies bowlers under lights in the second session, they did not do enough to trouble the well-set openers.
At the start of the day, both Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder were a bit too short to give the ball a chance to swing. Miguel Cummins bowled fuller, but even he managed to swing only the odd ball here and there. It was Gabriel who generated the first of two half-chances for West Indies in the first session. In his second over, he seamed one away from Azhar Ali to induce an outside edge, but the ball fell short of Kraigg Brathwaite at second slip. Cummins generated the other in his second spell when Azhar slashed a short, wide delivery towards Leon Johnson at gully; the ball burst through Johnson's hands and raced away to third man for a boundary.
If the bowling was not sufficiently penetrative, the decision-making was also puzzling at times. West Indies used six bowlers before tea, but there was no discernible logic in the manner in which they were used. Kraigg Brathwaite bowled three overs of gentle offspin before either Devendra Bishoo or Roston Chase were introduced. By the time Bishoo was called upon, in the 21st over of the chase, Azhar and Aslam had grown in confidence and were finding the boundary with increasing regularity, pouncing whenever the bowlers erred.
Both batsmen were very strong on the cut when the ball was dropped short. Azhar also exhibited a number of sumptuous drives. Aslam was good at skipping down to the spinners to hit them down the ground, but was equally impressive when leaving balls outside off.
The one spell that came close to being penetrative was Holder's, immediately after the tea break. With a bit more bounce and carry under lights, Holder bowled with more intensity, troubling Azhar with some well-directed bouncers. Azhar fended a few of those in the air, but got away with it due to the lack of close-in fielders. When Holder went up for a big lbw shout against Azhar and reviewed the not-out decision, West Indies lost their first review as the ball would have missed leg stump. Thereafter, Gabriel and Cummins also found more pace, the former bowling some good bouncers to Aslam. Bishoo also created his closest opportunity under lights, wrapping Aslam on the pads, but the not-out decision was upheld upon review when HawkEye indicated that the ball would have gone down leg with the angle.
Such fleeting moments of encouragement were all West Indies had to cling to after two wicketless sessions in which the pink ball did not misbehave and the bowlers were largely unthreatening.
