WI vs Pak - West Indies opt to bat; Pakistan hand a debut to Ali Usman

Toss: West Indies opt to bat vs Pakistan

West Indies have won the toss and opted to bat first against Pakistan. In the first Test to be held at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad, the hosts decided to bat first under sunny skies after training on the previous day was curtailed due to afternoon showers. Roston Chase paid tribute to Sir Garfield Sobers, who passed away last week, saying he hoped his side could put in a performance to “make the great man proud”.

Pakistan’s returning captain Babar Azam said he would have batted first, too. The visitors, who sit at the bottom of the World Test Championship table, handed out a debut, with left-arm orthodox spinner Ali Usman in the starting XI.

Both sides went in with one specialist spinner. Pakistan picked four seamers as Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Khurram Shahzad and Aamer Jamal all featured, while Sajid Khan missed out. Surprisingly, perhaps, Abdullah Fazal being ruled out due to injury has not resulted in Awais Zafar being handed a debut, with Jamal batting at 7 instead.

West Indies have Kemar Roach, who plays his 90th Test, Shamar Joseph and Jayden Seales all playing alongside left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, who had an exceptional series on the return tour in Pakistan last year. Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who scored a half-century at the top of the order, returned as opener after John Campbell was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

West Indies: 1 Tagenarine Chanderpaul 2 Brandon King 3 Kavem Hodge 4 Shai Hope (wk) 5 Amir Jangoo 6 Justin Greaves 7 Roston Chase (capt) 8 Kemar Roach 9 Jomel Warrican 10 Shamar Joseph 11 Jayden Seales

Pakistan: 1 Azan Awais 2 Imam ul Haq 3 Shan Masood 4 Babar Azam (capt) 5 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 6 Salman Ali Agha 7 Aamer Jamal 8 Ali Usman 9 Khurram Shahzad 10 Mohammad Ali 11 Mohammad Abbas

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