OTD 2021: WI register a thrilling 1-wicket win over PAK in Sabina Park Test chasing down 168

Pakistan and West Indies have engrossed in some enthralling red ball encounters in the past, whether it being the Antigua Test in 2000 or the 2017 Test in Dominica, the two cricketing powerhouses have served up some of the most entertaining matches, and it was the same on this day in 2021 when the hosts pulled off a scintillating heist against Pakistan in a sea-saw contest.

West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite put in Babar Azam’s side to bat first in the opening Test match of the series at Sabina Park in Kingston. The visitors got off to a rocky start as both of their openers were dismissed cheaply in the space of just eight deliveries. But a half-century from Fawad Alam and resilience from the lower middle order saw them post 217 runs in their first innings.

The Windies, in their reply, had a nightmare start as they lost Kieran Powell and Nkrumah Bonner for ducks on successive deliveries at the start of the innings. But skipper Kraigg Brathwaite played a typically stubborn knock and fell just three short of a terrific century as the Caribbean side took a handy lead of 36 runs on a surface that was assisting the quick bowlers.

Babar Azam led from the front in the second innings, registering a defiant half-century as the visitors scraped to 203, setting a rather timid target for 168 runs for the hosts to chase in the fourth innings. But the Pakistani bowlers made a fist of the lowly target as they rattled the Caribbean batters, and when Joshua Da Silva, the last recognized batter for the hosts was dismissed in the chase with 26 runs to go, Pakistan were the favorites to seal the match.

But the pair of Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales, who had earlier made a mockery of the Pakistani batting lineup by scalping eight wickets between them, provided the ultimate sting in the tail as they stitched an invaluable 17-run stand for the tenth wicket to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. The young Jayden Seales, who scalped eight wickets in the game, was adjudged the player of the match for his late riposte with the bat as the hosts went 1-0 up in the series with a sensational nail-biting victory.