{"id":27361,"date":"2026-08-04T14:03:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27361"},"modified":"2026-08-04T14:03:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:03:34","slug":"shafique-and-babar-azam-put-pakistan-on-top-in-2nd-cricket-test-against-west-indies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27361","title":{"rendered":"Shafique and Babar Azam put Pakistan on top in 2nd cricket test against West Indies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/05\/Pakistan_Babar_Captain_Cricket_51452_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/abdullah-shafique\/\">Abdullah Shafique<\/a> posted his sixth test century in an unbroken 168-run third-wicket stand with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/babar-azam\/\">Babar Azam<\/a> to put <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/pakistan\/\">Pakistan<\/a> on top after Day 2 of the second cricket test against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/west-indies\/\">West Indies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/west-indies\/\">West Indies<\/a> was bowled out for 344 in its first innings right on lunch after having resumed Monday at 239-5. Azan Awais then put the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/pakistan\/\">Pakistan<\/a> reply on a solid footing with a half-century before Shafique and Babar led the visitors to 266-2 at stumps.<\/p>\n<p>Shafique was 107 not out and captain Babar unbeaten on 86 after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/pakistan\/\">Pakistan\u2019s<\/a> best day of the two-test series. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/west-indies\/\">West Indies<\/a> won the opener by 90 runs.<\/p>\n<p>Batting was tricky on Day 1 when the pitch favored the slow bowlers. Conditions improved considerably on Monday and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/pakistan\/\">Pakistan<\/a> cashed in and is now only 78 runs behind.<\/p>\n<p>Awais (55) reached his maiden test half-century, with nine boundaries, after having put on 34 for the first wicket with Imam-ul-Haq (14). He then added 64 for the second wicket with Shafique before being trapped lbw by Jomel Warrican when he missed an attempted sweep.<\/p>\n<p>The umpire rejected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/west-indies\/\">West Indies<\/a>\u2019 appeal but captain Roston Chase referred the decision to the television umpire, who ruled the ball was turning enough to hit leg stump.<\/p>\n<p>Babar joined Shafique and showed his intention to play aggressively and keep <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/pakistan\/\">Pakistan<\/a> on the front foot, the pair adding 100 runs from only 139 balls.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Shafique reached his half-century first, with four fours and two sixes. Babar followed soon after with his 33rd half-century, including eight fours.<\/p>\n<p>Shafique went on to his first test century in almost two years, from 173 balls. His last test hundred was against England in October 2024.<\/p>\n<p>He missed the first test against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/west-indies\/\">West Indies<\/a> and is back for the first time since featuring against South Africa last October.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the match, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/pakistan\/\">Pakistan<\/a> will need to make sure it avoids another of the second-innings collapses that have been a recent feature. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/pakistan\/\">Pakistan<\/a> made 282 in the first innings of the first test before being bowled out for 120 in the second.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier Monday, Justin Greaves top-scored with 73 and Chase made a defiant 70 as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/west-indies\/\">West Indies<\/a> achieved a creditable total.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Off-break bowler Sajid Khan returned 4-85 while left-arm spinner Ali Usman, playing in his second test, Mohammad Ali and Ubaid Shah claimed two wickets apiece.<\/p>\n<div class=\"permission\" style=\"padding-top: 25px;\">\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 The Washington Times, LLC.\n                        <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad \u2014 Abdullah Shafique posted his sixth test century in an unbroken 168-run third-wicket stand with Babar Azam to put Pakistan on top after Day 2 of the second cricket test against West Indies. West Indies was bowled out for 344 in its first innings right on lunch after having resumed Monday&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/05\/Pakistan_Babar_Captain_Cricket_51452_c0-284-6808-4255_s1200x700.jpg?a6fb65077c3db4394d334fe6f50b2b155c92a60f","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}