HAVING bowled West Indies out for 357 in the first session, Pakistan rightly decided not to enforce the follow on despite being 222 runs in the lead here on Sunday and could make things a lot more difficult for the visitors when they bat again and face a target of over 350 to win or save the match.

However, one must credit spinner Ravinder Bishoo for his superb bowling in Pakistan’s second innings as the diminutive bowler ran through the top order to reduce Misbah-ul-Haq’s men to 121 for 8 at the time of filing this report and give his side something to cheer about. There were definitely some poor shots that led to the dismissal of Azhar ali, Asad Shafiq and debutant Nawaz.

Having said that, batting last on any pitch, dead or sporting, can be a daunting prospect especially when the target is tall and the bowling is good.

Signs of wear and tear in the track and the footmarks on either side of the wicket are already visible and both Yasir Shah and Bishoo of course have made most of that.

Yasir, in a controlled demonstration of spin bowling, finished the day with 5 for 121to get to his hundred Test wickets in just 17 Tests.

The first Pakistan bowler to take hundred wickets in Tests was the lion-hearted Fazal Mahmood and the first spinner to achieve the feat was Intikhab Alam.

Going back in history, the first bowler to take 100 wickets was England and Lancashire left-arm spinner Johnny Briggs in 1895 at Sydney in Australia. The fastest to hundred wickets however was indeed an English right-arm-medium pace bowler George Lohmann in 1896 in Johannesburg in only his 16th Test.

But at this point of time, what is important is whether Pakistan would strike the first blow in this Test series. It certainly looks likely if Yasir gets into the rhythm and unleashes his mixture of leg-spin, flippers and googlies, he can run through the West Indies on the last day.

Yasir is a kind of orthodox exponent of this art which was also mastered by remarkable personalities including Clarrie Grimmet of Australia, Tiger Bill Orielly also of Australia, Subash Gupte of India, Abdul Qadir and of course indomitable Shane Warne who tops the list. And so did Anil Kumble, a bowler different from the others that I mentioned because of his quicker trajectory at the time of delivery.

Yasir, the way he has been marching on to add to his list of victims, certainly gives Pakistan the edge on others who are on the scene. His run-up, the toss and twirl of the finger before he delivers no doubt reminds me of the great Abdul Qadir who by any standard was a magician with the ball, regardless of the surface he bowled on.

He had a lot more penetrating googly than Warne or for that matter Yasir. But Yasir’s record so far speaks of his brilliance and his art which has so far baffled many.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2016