DUBAI: Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah after stumps on the fourth day of the day-night Test against the West Indies, said that the team would try to get 2-3 wickets quickly on the fifth day.
West Indies leg-spinner Devendar Bishoo took a career-best 8-49 while Yasir Shah completed 100 wickets on Sunday as the first Test was poised for an exciting finish in Dubai.
Bishoo’s stunning performance limited Pakistan to a paltry 123 in their second innings before West Indies — set a daunting 346 to win the Test — finished the fourth day on 95-2.
West Indies will need another 251 runs for an improbable win while Pakistan’s hopes rest on Shah to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Yasir also expressed his delight on becoming the fastest Asian cricketer to reach 100 Test wickets.
He wished for a Test face-off with magician Indian offie Ravichandran Ashwin in a battle of two fast wicket-taking spinners.
England’s George Lohmann holds the record of fastest to 100 Test wickets when he completed the tally in his 16th Test in 1896.
Australia’s Charlie Turner and Clairre Grimmett and England’s Sydney Barnes all reached 100-mark in their 17th Test.
Shah said Ashwin’s best luck message was an inspiration.
“Yes, he had said good luck so I am thankful,” Shah said of the Indian master’s tweet.
“It’s naturally motivating when a great bowler who is second fastest to 200 tweets a good luck message and it’s really a great motivation for me.”
Ashwin, who became the second fastest to 200 wickets in the recently concluded home series against New Zealand in 37 Tests — one match more than Grimmett — had wished Shah “best of luck” in a tweet last week.
“Good luck, may the force be with him. He is such a delight to watch,” Ashwin had tweeted last week.
Ashwin again congratulated Yasir Shah on Sunday on his record.
Just a little late I guess, but very well done @Shah64Y.Double it up now.
Shah had 76 wickets in his first 12 Test and took ten against England at Lord’s but couldn’t complete 100 in the next three matches.
Shah said he wishes to play against Ashwin. “Every Pakistani and Indian player has this wish to play against each other,” said Shah. “I have not played a Test against India so it’s my wish.”
Political tensions have not allowed Pakistan and India to play a Test series against each other since 2007. India stalled all bilateral series with Pakistan in the wake of 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Ashwin had made his Test debut in 2011 while Shah only started playing Tests two years ago. But both crossed paths in a World Cup 2015 match at Adelaide when Ashwin got one wicket and Shah went wicket-less.
With India number one in Test rankings and Pakistan number two, there was a suggestion of having a one-off Test to determine a world Test champion.
But renewed tensions between the two arch-rivals since an attack on a military base in Indian Occupied Kashmir which left 17 soldiers killed have left the two nations close to war.
That has left no chance of cricket between the South Asian nuclear rivals.
Shah said he has faced no problems in his comeback from a failed dope test of last year.
“I was lucky that I was suspended for three months only and I did not lose any Test series and since my comeback I have found no problems,” said Shah who escaped a lengthy ban after admitting to taking hyper-tension tablets.
