MULTAN: Spin-heavy Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against the West Indies on Friday.
Heavy fog delayed the start of the Test match between the two bottom-placed teams of the World Test Championship before Pakistan captain Shan Masood won the coin toss after lunch and opted to bat on a dry wicket tailor-made for spinners.
Pakistan is at No. 8 and West Indies is at No. 9 on the WTC points table after performing under-par over the last one year in red-ball cricket. Australia and South Africa have already qualified for June 11-15 WTC final at Lord’s.
Pakistan has lost eight of its last 10 Test matches while West Indies has yet to win a Test series in this WTC cycle, losing to India, England and South Africa while drawing against Australia and Bangladesh.
One of the two Pakistan wins came at the Multan Cricket Stadium and on the same pitch when it beat England on an engineered dry wicket to favor the spin duo of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali.
Khan and Ali grabbed all 20 England wickets and will team up with recalled leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed to challenge the West Indies on another tailor-made spin wicket.
A spin-heavy Pakistan playing XI includes debutant Mohammad Hurraira, who scored half centuries in both innings of a three-day warm-up game against West Indies in Islamabad.
The 22-year-old Hurraira came in place of Saim Ayub, who has been ruled out of competitive cricket for at least six weeks after fracturing his right ankle during a Test match against South Africa at Cape Town earlier this month.
West Indies has dropped vice-captain Joshua Da Silva and will also be without ill fast bowler Kemar Roach.
The tourists awarded Test debut to 28-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Tevin Imlach, who has scored 1097 runs in 22 games since making his first class debut in Dec. 2018.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite said he would have liked to bat too on a dry pitch, but expected his bowlers to build dot-ball pressure with their disciplined line and lengths.
LINEUPS
Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Mohammad Hurraira, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Khurram Shahzad.
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Mikyle Louis, Keacy Carty, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Kevin Sinclair, Justin Greaves, Tevin Imlach, Gudakesh Motie, Jomel Warrican, Jayden Seales.
Pakistan win toss, elect to bat in 1st Test against West Indies
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Pakistan win toss, elect to bat in 1st Test against West Indies
- A spin-heavy Pakistan playing XI includes debutant Mohammad Hurraira, who scored half centuries in both innings of a three-day warm-up game against West Indies
- The tourists awarded Test debut to 28-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Tevin Imlach, who has scored 1097 runs in 22 games since making his first-class debut in Dec. 2018
Defending champ Andreeva reaches last 8 of Dubai Tennis Championships
- Top seed Elena Rybakina retires ill as Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic progresses to quarterfinals
- Second seed Amanda Anisimova secures passage to last 8 with 70-minute win
DUBAI: Defending champion Mirra Andreeva was among a raft of top seeds that moved menacingly into striking position at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, with a star-studded quarterfinal lineup setting up a thrilling denouement to the WTA 1000 event.
With nine seeded players swelling the competition in today’s round of 16, and only two matches pitting seed against seed, five daylight matches ultimately saw most fancied favorites progress to the quarterfinals.
In the opening match on Centre Court, Amanda Anisimova, the tournament’s second seed and the World No. 6, took only 70 minutes to dispose of Indonesian wildcard Janice Tjen 6-1, 6-3, in what was the reigning Wimbledon champion’s first match of the tournament.
After receiving a bye in the round of 64, Anisimova was subsequently handed a walkover in the round of 32 when Barbora Krejcikova withdrew due to injury. The well-rested American’s reward for her ruthless dismantling of Tjen is a quarterfinal clash with fifth seed Mirra Andreeva, who edged out Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 7-5, 6-3, in the second match on Centre Court.
Similarly, Andreeva’s win came a mere 24 hours after Daria Kasatkina’s withdrawal handed the fifth seed a second round walkover — on top of her first round bye — into the round of 32. Ahead of their last eight showdown, Andreeva said: “It’s the second time it ever happened to me, that the girl withdrew before the match. I had one more day of practice, but I feel like it’s kind of breaking the rhythm of your play a little bit.
“I feel like I was pretty far from perfect today, from how I want to play, so I’m just really happy that I stayed focused and tried to reset for every single point, I’m super happy with that. I’m sure tomorrow is going to be better because I’m going to get into this rhythm.”
Now only three matches away from defending her Dubai title — which would make the Russian the first back-to-back winner since Elina Svitolina in 2018 — Andreeva added: “I know I’m a defending champion, but I have so many nice and great memories from Dubai from last year. I feel all the support from the people. And honestly, it’s insane because I feel so much more motivation here than any tournament, so I’m just so excited to try and defend my title. I’m going to give it all tomorrow and we’ll see how it’s going to go.”
The final daylight match on Centre Court saw top seed Elena Rybakina, the world No. 3, retire during her match with Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic. Despite surrendering six inches in height and reach to the two-time Grand Slam winner, Ruzic showed few signs of fatigue after navigating two punishing three-set matches over the past two days.
After losing a topsy-turvy first set where she broke Rybakina in the very first game, Ruzic, ranked 64 places below her opponent, bravely battled back to clinch the second set 6-4. Then, only seconds into the decider, and moments after Ruzic broke Rybakina again to go 1-0 up, Rybakina’s race was run — the 26-year-old retiring due to illness.
On New Court 1, last year’s defeated finalist, Dane Clara Tauson, maintained her confident form with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 victory over Magda Linette. Having eliminated eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round of 32, the Pole had no answer to the impressive Tauson, who will face her third American opponent in four matches in Thursday’s quarterfinal.
Her last eight opponent was decided in the second match on Dubai Tennis Stadium’s newest court, which saw an all-American clash between rising star and 16th seed Iva Jovic, and 2024 US Open finalist Jessica Pegula, the fourth seed.
After a tight opening set, the seasoned Pegula upped the ante and eventually overpowered her younger rival 6-4, 6-2. The Pegula-Tauson quarterfinal looks delicately balanced, with both players yet to drop a set in Dubai this year.
