Windies leg spinner Bishoo puts Pakistan in trouble

PROVIDENCE, Guyana: Pakistan were undermined by leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo and West Indies captain Darren Sammy as they collapsed to 113 for six in their first innings at tea on the second day of the opening Test on Friday.

Umar Akmal was not out on 27 and Abdur Rehman was not out on 13 at the break as the Pakistanis continued their reply to West Indies' first innings total of 226 at the Guyana National Stadium.

Akmal and Rehman were busy trying to restore respectability to Pakistan's innings, after Bishoo collected three wickets for 41 runs from 16 overs, and Sammy two for 16 from 12 overs, to send the visitors crumbling to 80 for six.

Akmal announced himself with a flowing off-drive on the move off Sammy for his first boundary. He then put Bishoo on the defensive with a lofted drive to long-on for four, and a cut through backward point for another boundary in the leg-spinner's ninth over.

Rehman endured a barrage of short-pitched bowling from West Indies two frontline fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul to survive until the break.

Things had taken a dramatic twist for the Pakistanis when they lost five wickets for 23 runs in the space of 78 deliveries.

Taufeeq Umar was lbw to Sammy for 19 playing forward and across a delivery angled in to the left-hander from around the wicket in the fifth over after lunch.

Three overs later, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq was trapped lbw for two on the backfoot to a flatter, faster delivery from Bishoo.

Azhar Ali was bowled for 34 in the next over, offering no stroke to a delivery from Sammy that moved back.

Asad Shafiq was lbw for two playing down the wrong line to a leg-break from Bishoo, following a successful West Indies review of New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden's not-out verdict, and Mohammad Salman suffered a similar fate, falling lbw for six.

Before lunch, the visitors looked to have firm control, as Azhar and Taufeeq guided them to 45 for one, after they lost opener Mohammad Hafeez early.

Hafeez was Pakistan's most prolific batsman in the preceding one-day series, but he was bowled for four, dragging a delivery from Rampaul into his stumps in the second over of their innings.

Azhar and Taufeeq made steady progress in between a couple Alarming moments.

Taufeeq was fortunate on one when he edged a rising ball from Rampaul between second slip and gully for his first boundary.

West Indies raised his heart rate again when he was on five, appealing unsuccessfully for a caught behind off the same bowler.

Azhar hardly placed a foot wrong and got into the thick of things with a square drive through cover and a back-foot cover drive from successive deliveries in Kemar Roach's fifth over.

Earlier, Pakistan needed half an hour to complete the demolition of the West Indies first innings, after the hosts resumed from their overnight total of 209 for nine.

Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal suffered the indignity of Roach smashing a searing drive through cover for his third boundary, but he had the last laugh when he had the West Indies fast bowler caught at forward short leg for a Test-best 24 from bat-pad, playing defensively forward.

Ajmal finished with the impressive figures of five for 69 from 33 overs.

Pakistan are seeking their maiden Test series victory in the Caribbean.