JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Monday, February 17, 2025

Brathwaite says West Indies ready for historic Test in Multan after 18-year hiatus

by

Sport Desk
32 days ago
20250117
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite needs 149 runs to become the tenth West Indian to score 6,000 runs in Test cricket.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite needs 149 runs to become the tenth West Indian to score 6,000 runs in Test cricket.

Courtesy PCB Media

MUL­TAN, Pak­istan– All the prep work and team plan­ning will be out the win­dow short­ly, as the West In­dies crick­et team gears up for a long-await­ed re­turn to Pak­istan’s Test are­na, as they face off against the hosts in the first of two match­es at the Mul­tan Crick­et Sta­di­um.

The first ball is sched­uled to be bowled at 1.30 am (T&T time), with the en­counter mark­ing the West In­dies’ first Test in Pak­istan in more than 18 years.

How­ev­er, the stakes go be­yond his­to­ry. Both teams sit at the bot­tom of the World Test Cham­pi­onship stand­ings, with Pak­istan on­ly mar­gin­al­ly ahead.

For West In­dies cap­tain Kraigg Brath­waite, the fo­cus is on de­liv­er­ing a per­for­mance that not on­ly lifts the team but al­so sets the tone for a strong start to the year.

“This se­ries is very im­por­tant for us. There are two Test match­es left in this cy­cle, and it’s al­so a new year, so we want to start strong. The main thing, es­pe­cial­ly for the bat­ters, is to be brave, trust in your plans, be­lieve in them, and ex­e­cute,” said Brath­waite.

The West In­dies face some hur­dles head­ing in­to the match as ex­pe­ri­enced pac­er Ke­mar Roach has been side­lined due to ill­ness, and wick­et­keep­er Joshua Da Sil­va has been dropped.

Trinida­di­an Amir Jan­goo, who im­pressed with a half-cen­tu­ry in a re­cent tour match, could make his Test de­but.

Head coach An­dre Co­ley is faced with an­oth­er co­nun­drum of bat­ting ei­ther Kea­cy Car­ty at num­ber four or Tevin Im­lach.

Brath­waite, mean­while, is on the brink of per­son­al mile­stones. He needs 99 runs to sur­pass Richie Richard­son’s Test tal­ly and 149 to join the elite club of West In­dies bat­ters who have scored 6,000 Test runs.

One thing is for sure, spin will fac­tor great­ly, and slow bowlers Kevin Sin­clair, Jomel War­ri­can, and Gu­dakesh Motie are ex­pect­ed to show­case their skills in Mul­tan, while the host is set to un­leash three spin­ners, No­man Ali, Sajid Khan and Abrar Ahmed, in their fi­nal eleven.

The last Test match be­tween these two sides in Mul­tan, back in No­vem­ber 2006, was a run-fest. Over five days and 439 overs bowled, more than 1,400 runs were scored, and on­ly 27 wick­ets fell. With the venue ex­pect­ed to of­fer a sim­i­lar bat­ting-friend­ly sur­face, Brath­waite urged his play­ers to take in­spi­ra­tion from past suc­cess­es in com­pa­ra­ble sub-con­ti­nen­tal con­di­tions.

“We won a se­ries in Bangladesh, so there’s a lot we can take from those ex­pe­ri­ences. But at the end of the day, that’s his­to­ry. What has been key for the bats­men is to be­lieve, be­lieve and be brave.”

CMC


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored