Brathwaite's purposeful hundred propels West Indies into lead

Kraigg Brathwaite, the 23-year-old opener, was a paradigm of patience and composure at the crease as the gutsy batsman compiled his fifth Test century to spur West Indies into the lead at Lunch on Day 3 of the final Test on Tuesday (November 1) in Sharjah. At the break the visitors were 33 runs in front.

The Barbados batsman, who was unbeaten on 95 overnight, notched up the triple-figure mark in the first over of the day. He guided Mohammad Amir through the point region for a boundary before nudging one around the corner to hustle to the hundred. He raised his bat to acknowledge the generous applause from his team-mates in the pavilion. Even Younis Khan applauded Brathwaite's sure-footed hundred.

In what turned out to be a battle of wills between Brathwaite and Pakistan's varied attack, the opener showed the required batting aptitude to emerge the winner. The feature of his innings was the way Brathwaite used the crease to handle the spin duo of Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar.

He was focused largely on waiting for the ball to come to him to play it under his eye-line and collect useful runs for his team. Batting on 121, the right-hander had a scare when Sarfraz Ahmed fluffed a rather easy chance off Mohammad Nawaz.

Brathwaite also teamed up with Devendra Bishoo to share a vital stand of 51 for the eighth wicket to propel the tourists into lead. The lower-order batsman peppered the field on both sides of the wicket with a stream of drives and frustrated the home team.

Just like Brathwaite, Bishoo too survived a chance. He swept one off Nawaz straight to Azhar Ali at short-leg, but the ball rebounded onto hit his grille. As a result, the catch was declared as dead and the original decision was reversed.

Jason Holder was the only wicket to fall during the session. After cracking a couple of crisply played shots, the West Indies captain shouldered arms to a delivery that was angled in and his off-stump was pegged back.

With Pakistan slipping behind the eight-ball, Misbah-ul-Haq had a worried look on his face. The hosts tried every trick in the trade to break the partnership. Misbah even had a leg-slip and a couple of fielders positioned in front of the wicket to dislodge Bishoo and Brathwaite, but to no avail. It has to be noted that if West Indies gain a sizeable first innings lead, Pakistan's batsmen will be under more pressure to perform well on a wearing pitch.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 281 (Sami Aslam 74, Misbah-ul-Haq 53; Devendra Bishoo 4-74) trail West Indies 314/7 (Kraigg Brathwaite 130*, Roston Chase 50; Mohammad Amir 3-71) by 33 runs.