WI vs PAK, 2nd Test — Day 2 Stumps: Pakistan 266/2, Trail by 78, as Shafique and Babar Bat the Whole Evening Without Being Parted

The first hour of Day 2 was the one we said would decide the shape of this Test, and it went to Pakistan on points rather than by knockout. West Indies resumed 239 for 5 with Justin Greaves on 64 and Roston Chase on 36, and both men got past the landmark that mattered — Chase to 70, Greaves to 73 — before the last five wickets fell for 105 and the innings closed at 344 in 105.4 overs. On a pitch that had already been turning for a day, and against a total that the ground's history says is a shade above par, neither side could complain.

Sajid Khan finished with 4 for 85 from 32.4 overs, Ali Usman with 2 for 80 from 35 — nine maidens in there, which on any surface is a serious afternoon's work — and Ubaid Shah, the 20-year-old debutant who had leaked at six an over on Day 1, came back to take Chase and finish with 2 for 66. There is something worth noting in that: a young quick who has a bad first day in Test cricket and returns to take the opposition captain is a young quick who is going to be around for a while.

And then Pakistan batted, and for the first time on a long and mostly miserable tour they batted like a side that believed it could win a Test match.

Imam-ul-Haq went early for 14, caught off Shamar Joseph. Azan Awais made a busy 55 from 71 and was lbw to Jomel Warrican. That brought Babar Azam to the middle at a moment when Pakistan were still a long way behind and one more wicket from the familiar collapse, and what followed was the most controlled batting of the series. Abdullah Shafique reached his hundred — his first in a considerable while, and by the close he was 107 not out. Babar was 86 not out beside him. Neither was dismissed. Pakistan closed on 266 for 2, 78 behind, with eight wickets in hand and two set batters coming back in the morning.

What is striking about the partnership is how unremarkable it looked. There was no counter-attack, no passage where either man tried to take the game away in a session. On a surface where Ali Usman had just bowled nine maidens in 35 overs, Shafique and Babar simply refused to give West Indies a wicket, and the runs accumulated as a by-product. This is the thing Pakistan's middle order had not done at Tarouba, where they made 282 and then 120 — bat time, and let the scoreboard follow.

West Indies, for their part, will feel they bowled better than 266 for 2 suggests. Warrican was the pick with the Awais wicket and long spells of nothing given away; Joseph got Imam with a ball that did enough. But 344 is not a total you defend from a position of comfort, and a captain who has watched two batters bat an entire evening session without being separated knows exactly what the first hour of Day 3 is worth.

CricIntel prediction review. Our preview said the Test would come down to whether Pakistan's middle order could bat time, and named Babar batting a long way into the second day with someone staying with him for a session and a half as the most likely shape of a Pakistan win. That is, almost precisely, what Day 2 produced. We will keep owning the two things we got wrong before a ball was bowled — building the piece around Mohammad Abbas, who is not in the XI, and describing a venue with front-loaded seam movement on a pitch where spin has bowled most of the overs since the first session.

How Day 3 sets up. Pakistan resume 78 behind with Shafique and Babar set and eight wickets standing, which means the morning has two outcomes and no middle ground. Get through the first hour and Pakistan are batting into a lead of 80 or 100, with West Indies then facing a fourth innings on a turning pitch against Sajid Khan and Ali Usman. Lose both set batters early and the tail is exposed with the deficit still there, and this becomes the same Test match Pakistan have been losing all tour. Roston Chase will take the second new ball when it comes and give it to Warrican anyway. Everything hinges on the first hour — again.