West Indies' recent Test record has been woeful to say the least. But thankfully for them all the focus in the opening Test against Pakistan in Dubai will not be on them
Pakistan will start favourites against West Indies in the historic day-night Test match in Dubai today. Pic/AFP
Pakistan will start favourites against West Indies in the historic day-night Test match in Dubai today. Pic/AFP
Dubai: West Indies' recent Test record has been woeful to say the least. But thankfully for them all the focus in the opening Test against Pakistan in Dubai will not be on them. On the face of it, the first Test series between the two sides since May 2011, offers no contest to speak as Pakistan is ranked second and West Indies is at eighth. Yet when the opening Test at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium (DICS) will be all about the host, and also the occasion.
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The first match starting on Thursday will be Pakistan's 400th and will also be the first-ever day-night Test in the region. In fact this will be only the second day-night Test match ever to be played, with the first one featuring Australia and New Zealand in 2015-16. Hence all the focus is away from the West Indies' lack of wins on the tour and onto other factors-pink ball, lights.
Both sides have been hard at work in the nets, with the West Indies already having played a couple of warm-up matches, under lights, in the lead-up to the Test. From the looks of it, the West Indies camp is finding some issues with the pink ball, even before a ball has been bowled in the historic Test.
"I think most of the guys are complaining about the fact that they aren't able to pick the seam of the ball that well, I don't know for whatever reason but we can't do anything about it, it is what it is, and we need to accept the challenge as quickly as possible and go out there and give our best shot," said Darren Bravo, West Indies batsman.
For Pakistan the Test presents different challenges. So their camp has been fairly relaxed about the change. "We have discussed the different phases of the pink ball, and how this ball behaves at different times, when the ball is old how its colour is, how new batsmen could have some issues facing this ball, and also whether it will swing at night. This is International cricket and you have to adapt quickly," said Azhar Ali, Pakistan vice-captain.
But above all, the challenge for Pakistan is in their mind as they try to wrest the number-one ranking from their arch rival, India. "India played some wonderful cricket and won against New Zealand and they deserve it at the moment. But we will try our best, and with lots of cricket to come there will be lots of challenges, and if we can carry our form like in England, we can get it back," hoped Azhar Ali.
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