Azhar becomes only the third Pakistani triple-centurion as visiting bowlers struggle.

By Abdullah Ansari (14th October, 2016)

Toss: Pakistan won the toss, Misbah-ul-Haq chose to bat first.

Teams

Pakistan: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz.

West Indies: KC Brathwaite, LR Johnson, DM Bravo, MN Samuels, J Blackwood, RL Chase, SO Dowrich (wk), JO Holder (c), D Bishoo, ML Cummins, ST Gabriel

West Indies began the day strongly as Gabriel and Holder bowled well in the initial stages. Gabriel could have had Shafiq LBW in the first over had West Indies taken a review but the batsman survived. It was smooth sailing after that as Shafiq hit his stride, playing the role of the aggressor after the first half-hour as Azhar struggled to get runs regularly. He reached his 150 and continued onwards. Eventually, he got into his stride as well, launching Chase for the first six of the game as Pakistan looked to accelerate. However, Bishoo has Shafiq dismissed for 67 - the batsman went down the pitch and hit it straight back, with the leg-spinner hanging on to a tough chance. In came Babar on debut, and immediately got going with a couple of fours despite a nervy start. He eventually settled down as Pakistan went to tea at 391/2.

Azhar got to his double hundred straight after tea via a couple of boundaries off Gabriel, with pushups to follow. The two batsman continued ticking over, getting the odd boundary to keep the run-rate at around 4 an over. Azhar soon passed his previous highest score of 226 as he batted positively in the session. Babar got to a debut half-century off 87 balls. Soon thereafter, Azhar got to his 250 as well via four overthrows as the visitors faltered in the field with fatigue stting in. Babar fell to Bishoo for 69, as his attempt to make yet another hundred against West Indies failed - he fell trying to up the ante, caught at cover. There was time for a mixup between Azhar and Misbah before dinner, but the fielder failed to effect a direct hit.

The third session commenced as Azhar went past 4000 runs, also becoming the highest scorer in UAE as he went past AB de Villiers' 278*. The two batsmen continued rotating strike, and on 298, Azhar cracked a boundary through the covers to become Pakistan's fourth triple-centurion - Misbah-ul-Haq declared immediately at 579/3.

Mohammad Amir and Sohail Khan opened the bowling and got a hint of swing in the initial overs, beating the bat on a few occasions but were unable to find the breakthrough. However, it was the ever reliable Yasir Shah who came on and struck in his second over as Johnson went for a sweep and missed the ball, being adjudged LBW. He reviewed but there was no evidence of an edge and the decision stayed. The two batsmen negotiated the rest of the overs safely with Bravo hitting Yasir for a big six to remind the opposition of his pedigree as a batsman. The visitors finished at 69/1, 510 runs behind.

Summary: Another excellent day for Pakistan as they piled on a huge total to take control of the match. Credit for that goes to Azhar Ali as he showed excellent fitness to go on and make the triple-hundred. West Indies would have felt they started well with their reply and could have avoided losing Johnson, but it wasn't a bad start by any means. They will probably have to bat out most of Day 3 in order to have a shot at drawing this game - it remains to be seen if this pitch will have enough assistance for the Pakistan bowlers to be able to pick up 20 wickets.

Fall of wickets:

2-352 (Asad Shafiq, 108.3 ov)
3-517 (Babar Azam, 142.5 ov)

1-42 (Johnson, 11.5 ov)

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