Despite a rain-affected first day with only 41.3 overs bowled, the first Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies concluded in just two-and-a-half days, with Pakistan securing a 127-run victory.
The Pakistan spinners dominated the match, sharing all 20 West Indies wickets. Sajid Khan claimed nine dismissals, Noman Ali took six, and Abrar Ahmed grabbed five, bowling out the visitors for 137 and 123 in their two innings.
However, Pakistan’s batting also struggled against Jomel Warrican’s remarkable performance. Warrican took 3-69 and 7-32 and contributed to two run-outs, keeping the hosts’ scores to 230 and 157. A crucial 141-run partnership between Saud Shakeel (84) and Mohammad Rizwan (71) in the first innings proved decisive, accounting for over a third of Pakistan’s total runs across both innings.
At just 1,064 balls, this is now the shortest decided Test match in Pakistan’s history, breaking the previous record of 1,080 balls set during the Faisalabad Test in 1990-91 between the same sides. Despite this, Pakistan remains one of four countries yet to host a Test match resolved in under 1,000 balls.
With this victory, Pakistan moved closer to Bangladesh on the World Test Championship (WTC) points table and climbed from 11th to 10th in the list of nations with the shortest completed Test matches. They are now above Bangladesh and Ireland on this unique ranking.
