Wahab Riaz helps hosts to grab initiative despite Darren Bravo's stubborn 87.

By Abdullah Ansari (15th 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

Pakistan began the day on the front-foot as Yasir struck in his 1st over of the day, with a little bit of spin accounting for Kraigg Brathwaite who played inside the line of the ball and was bowled. Samuels came to the crease with positive intentions, demonstrating them as he hit Yasir for consecutive fours off his first two deliveries. He nicked one off Amir but it didn't carry to the slip fielder. Samuels continued being positive against Yasir while Bravo was staunch in defence from the other end. Samuels got to his fifty before tea as he hit the pacers for a few fours through the off-side as well with West Indies 138/2.

West Indies resumed after the break in a similar manner - Nawaz came on to bowl and struggled a bit with his follow-through as he got 2 warnings for running onto the pitch. Azhar came on to bowl and got struck on his hand as Samuels hit one back strongly at him - technically a dropped catch but it was struck incredibly hard. Wahab Riaz came on and found Samuels' edge but it didn't carry either. Samuels continued attacking the spinners until Sohail Khan came on - he got him out, LBW for 76 as Samuels missed a straight delivery. The Pakistan bowlers got around to testing the batsmen with some short stuff, and took an unsuccessful review against Blackwood as West Indies ended the session at 211/3.

Pakistan took the second new-ball a few overs into the last session with the old one providing no assistance. There was some swing straightaway for Sohail and Amir, with the latter drawing an edge from Blackwood, which fell short again. Sohail resorted to some bouncers after a while, and Wahab then came on and continued the same ploy. It paid dividends as Blackwood gloved one down the leg-side as he tried to pull the ball. In the next over, Wahab had Chase dismissed with another excellent bouncer which the batsman wasn't able to handle, caught at leg-slip. Wahab continued with his aggressive spell as he struck Dowrich on the helmet. Nawaz was the one who made the crucial break-through, as he got one to spin and bounce and catch the inside edge of Bravo's bat, with Azhar taking an excellent catch at short-leg. Bravo made 87 off 258 in his lengthy stay. The batsmen survived the day without further scares, ending at 315/6, 264 runs behind Pakistan.

Summary: A solid display by the West Indies batsman on Day 3 but Pakistan ensured they didn't run away with it by keeping the rate of scoring down and making key breakthroughs in the last session. Mohammad Nawaz's strike to dismiss Darren Bravo means Pakistan will still be confident about winning this game. Wahab Riaz's spell towards the end of the day was also commendable, as he put in a lot of effort on an unresponsive pitch. Pakistan will hope to wrap up the innings early tomorrow and then set West Indies a tough target in the fourth innings.

Fall of wickets:

2-69 (Brathwaite, 23.6 ov)
3-182 (Samuels, 67.3 ov)
4-259 (Blackwood, 90.2 ov)
5-266 (Chase, 92.2 ov)
6-300 (Bravo, 103.1 ov)

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