Pak vs WI 2nd Test – Brave Kraigg Brathwaite and West Indies stand up to Multan Demons

As Sinner tormented Zverev with his so many drop shot, Shan Masood and Mohammad Hurraira played around straight deliveries to give the West Indies the best possible start to the fourth innings and therein lay a tie. Fans, broadcasters and analysts often tend to take the pitch out of the occasion when batters get out like this, arguing that it wasn’t the spin that got them out, but the shot selection. It’s as misleading as criticizing Zverev for failing to dispatch Sinner’s drop shots; after all they are very slow shots top players should be able to handle.

Still, Zverev has to hedge deep behind the baseline because he understands that the back of that drop shot is the extreme power Sinner can generate; what might happen is as relevant to the end result as what actually happened. That is partly why 20 wickets fell on the first day in Multan, as the batsmen, isolated from a wider context, could have chosen better shots for the deliveries they eventually got out. But on a surface where some balls barely rose above the ankles, others turned square and some spat high, it’s no surprise when players make decisions they normally wouldn’t on surfaces that do neither of those things early on in a test.

The first Test saw a higher degree of spin – not to mention inconsistent bounce – than either of the surfaces that hosted the last two England Tests, and the first day here was only a fraction lower. When the West Indies walked out – more or less with a clean slate after extricating themselves from the oblivion of 38 for 7 on the first morning – they faced the unenviable task of refusing to let the on-field demons fester in their minds. In theory, it can be as simple as realizing that suddenly there is no reason to fear a bully, but using that information to change your own behavior can be a completely different challenge.

It’s one that West Indies captain Brathwaite – whose soft-spoken demeanor belies the authority his words carry in a room – has urged his charges to live up to. “It was a tough pitch to bat on, for sure,” he had said after West Indies lost the first Test. “Having said that, we didn’t bat as well as we could have either. I think Alick (Athanaze, whose fourth-innings 55 was West Indies’ highest individual score in the first Test) showed us today how easily it can be. You” You have to be bolder in your shot selection.”

Bravery under these conditions can be interpreted in different ways. For some, it’s a relentless attack, hoping to steal as many runs as possible before the track, or one’s technique or bad luck, eventually fails them. Others have deployed sweeps and reverse sweeps in an attempt to neutralize the swing, although the inconsistent bounce still leaves them vulnerable.

However, Brathwaite treated this pitch as if it were a normal one, rather than the potential minefield it truly was. He said after the first Test that he had “never” in his career seen the kind of cracks he saw in Multan, a career that, now in its 98th Test, has seen its fair share of pitches.

Batting with a struggling partner at the other end, he took almost sole responsibility for the run-scoring and put his faith in a surface that has not deserved it. He danced down the pitch in the fifth over to Sajid Khan. The shot was on, Sajid had lured him with the flight. But the steps he took out of his fold may well have been on a shaky ladder at the precipice of a skyscraper for how precarious a charge down the fold is here. He got close enough to the ball, made a clean enough connection and helped himself to a six.

He would do this time and time again; the straight shot was his most prolific shot, giving him 17 of his runs in seven deliveries. When playing onside, he used the conventional flick more than the sweep that many West Indian batsmen have relied on as a crutch; it brought him another 13 of his runs.

Those who have seen him regularly over the years might be able to tell more clearly if this is how he usually hits, but that is not how he hit for much of this series. Sweeps and reverse sweeps made up a small percentage of his shots this innings – just 5 off 74 balls. In the first Test, he swept one of almost every four balls he faced and got out that way every innings, including one where he tried to sweep Sajid Khan well outside the off-stump. “You’re not going to succeed here if the sweep is your only option,” chastised ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary at the time.

Brathwaite hovered on the crease, trying not to think about the consequences, helping his side engine along, each run taking them further and further away from Pakistan’s grasp. Mikyle Louis’s dismissal was barely a footnote as he encouraged Amir Jangoo to strike in similar fashion, and by the midway point of the morning session West Indies sat atop the skyscraper at 92 for 1, more than 100 runs ahead with nine wickets still to go, and Brathwaite had reached his half-century.

Brathwaite stepped away to the side and once again danced out of the crease. This time, Noman had deceived him on the run and the pitch did the rest, lofting the ball away from the bat. The weight of his trust could no longer be borne and the ladder was pulled away from under him. For Brathwaite, perhaps this is what bravery looked like.