Opener Azhar Ali was unbeaten on 85 as Pakistan crawled to 169 for two on a rain-affected first day of the series-deciding third Test against West Indies in Dominica on Wednesday.
Azhar's obdurate 193-ball stay at the crease helped his side plod slowly towards the hosts' first-innings total of 312 at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown to stand 140 runs behind with seven wickets in hand at the close.
'As a spinner, some will go your way some days and some won't, that is cricket. I don't look too much into that. I want to contribute with bat, ball and in the field. When my opportunities come I want to make sure I take them.'
West Indies beat England by four wickets on the final day of the first international Test since the coronavirus break on Sunday, taking a 1-0 lead at the Ageas Bowl in a three-Test series thanks to a 95-run knock by Jermaine Blackwood.
Images from Day 3 of the first Test between England and West Indies at the Ageas Bowl, on Friday
West Indies face a fight for survival against Pakistan's spinners on the final day of the second Test after reaching 171 for four in their second innings in Abu Dhabi, still 285 runs short of an improbable victory.
The West Indies cricket team on Monday departed from Antigua for their scheduled three-test tour of England as international cricket is finally set to resume. Two planes collected players from various islands in the West Indies earlier on Monday before they all took a private charter flight for the UK, which will reach Manchester on Tuesday.
Virat Kohli anchored a tricky chase before Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur played useful cameos with the bat to power India to a series-winning four-wicket victory over the West Indies in the third ODI, in Cuttack, on Sunday. IMAGES from the third and final ODI in Cuttack on Sunday.
Images from Day 4 of the first Test between India and the West Indies in Antigua.
Rain held up England's progress after Alastair Cook scored a superb 243 on the second day of the first Test against West Indies at Edgbaston on Friday.
The West Indies bowling could have been taken to the cleaners, but the skipper hit only 10 fours in his knock -- significantly less than Shaw's 19 boundaries and Pujara's 14 hits.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian side will look to clinch five-match ODI series against West Indies when they play the must-win fifth and the final match at the Sabina Park here on Thursday.
The duo has replaced Jonathan Carter and Kesrick Williams in the squad.
A second-string West Indies which never looked like challenging India enough in this series, scored a modest 189 for nine, but sluggish batting by the visitors specially Mahendra Singh Dhoni (54 off 114 balls) turned it into a winning total.
Virat Kohli has said he can only doff his hat to the West Indies batsmen, who produced a special batting display to save the second Test.
West Indies have replaced wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin with Shane Dowrich for the four-Test series at home to India.
Roston Chase was disappointed to have thrown away his wicket after scoring 48 runs in the opening Test against India, unable to do justice to the advice given by batting legend Brian Lara.
Pant had a bad start to the Windies tour as he was dismissed for 0 and 4 in the first two T20Is of the three-match series. He was later successful in turning around his fortunes as he played a match-winning knock of 65 runs in the third T20I.
Temperamentally poles apart, a cavalier Pant and a composed Ajinkya Rahane eventually wrested the initiative back with a burgeoning 146-run partnership to guide India to 308-4 at stumps.
Windies get Holder, Roach boost in bid to level series
India crushed West Indies by an innings and 272 runs inside three days of the first Test in Rajkot to go 1-0 up in the two-match series on Saturday.
The power-packed Caribbean batting unit, who successfully chased down a target of 288 in Chennai on Sunday to win by eight wickets, were bundled out for 280 in the 44th over, while they unsuccessfully chased a massive 387 for 5.
"I owe my hat-trick to the captain," Jasprit Bumrah told an enamoured Virat Kohli after blowing away the West Indies with his heady cocktail of line and length, pace and bounce, Saturday, Day 2 of the second Test against the West Indies.
Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo frustrated Pakistan's bowlers with a defensive and patient batting display on a slow pitch but West Indies still trailed by 264 runs at the end of the third day of the first day-night Test in Dubai on Saturday.
All-rounder Dwayne Bravo wrote his own piece of history, while Praveen Tambe became the first Indian cricketer to play in the Hero Caribbean Premier League as Trinbago Knight Riders posted their fourth straight win, beating St Lucia Zouks by six wickets via D/L method in a rain-truncated match, in Port of Spain on Wednesday.
Kohli had achieved his highest rating after the Southampton Test against England earlier this year.
England wrapped up a comprehensive 232-run victory over West Indies in the third Test in St Lucia on Tuesday after home batsman Roston Chase made a century but got little help.
Joe Root became the first England player to score a century during the series as the visitors strengthened their stranglehold in the third Test against West Indies on Monday.
Mark Wood picked up his first five-wicket haul to bowl England into a commanding position on the second day of the third test against West Indies on Sunday.
Rodrigues, Kaur, Mandhana and Sharma were also a part of the now-defunct Kia Super League (KSL) in 2019, the ECB's domestic T20 tournament that made way for the Women's Hundred.
James Anderson tore through West Indies' middle order in a devastating late spell, while Ben Stokes chimed in to claim tailender Kemar Roach for a duck with the final ball of the day at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the interesting numbers from the second day of Kingston Test between West Indies and India
Since Dhawan is not part of the Test squad, the Delhi left-hander would like to finish the Caribbean assignment on a high.
The flamboyant Chris Gayle is unlikely to get a farewell Test match against India after being overlooked in the 13-strong West Indies squad for the two-Test series, starting August 22 at North Sound, in Antigua.
Navdeep Saini didn't get a chance to share the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah in his six international games and no wonder he is excited at an opportunity to pick the brains of India's pace spearhead during the upcoming three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Saini, has so far played an ODI and five T20 Internationals but Bumrah has either been rested or was out due to his stress fracture on lower back during these games.
Virat Kohli is the "benchmark" and that is why all West Indies players should work as hard as the Indian captain to achieve their goals, believes their assistant coach Roddy Estwick.
Sri Lanka suffered a stunning batting collapse as they suffered a crushing 226-run defeat in the first Test against West Indies in Port of Spain.
Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq are poised to end their storied careers on a winning note after Pakistan played their way into a strong position on day four of the third Test against West Indies on Saturday.
West Indies all-rounder Roston Chase says they are better-prepared to tackle Shaw, whose initial onslaught had set the tone for their embarrassing defeat in the first Test.
The talented Shreyas Iyer will be auditioning for the vacant number four slot when India take on West Indies in Sunday's second ODI of the three-match series.
