PAK vs WI: During the 2024-25 season, Pakistan was to host West Indies in a Test match that would be etched in history for a multitude of reasons. The match featured a series of record-breaking performances, particularly by the spinners, and also for its brevity. Pakistan’s victory ensured that they not only won against the West Indies but also made several records, especially regarding the shortest Test match and the supremacy of spin bowling.
9 key highlights from the PAK vs WI Multan Test
1. Shortest Test Match in Pakistan with a Result
The Multan Test was marked by the fact that it was completed in such a short period of time. A total of 1064 balls (or 177.3 overs) were bowled in the match, making it the shortest Test match in Pakistan’s history with a clear result. This surpassed the previous record of 1080 balls set in the 1990 Test between Pakistan and the West Indies in Faisalabad.
The short nature of the game, coupled with the high-intensity action, meant that every ball counted, and it was not long before the spinners took control of the game.
2. Low Run Totals and the Impact of Spin
The Multan Test saw both teams combine for a total of 647 runs, making it the third-lowest total in a Test match in Asia where all 40 wickets fell. This match reflected the significant impact of the spinners, who took all 40 wickets in the match. The lowest total in Asia remains the 537 runs from the 1959 Test between Pakistan and the West Indies in Dhaka, and the second-lowest is 605 runs, recorded in the 2004 Test between India and Australia at Wankhede.
This low-scoring match also featured the domination of spin bowling through the Test match. The West Indies could never get hold of Pakistan’s dominant spin bowling which broke into the West Indian batting lineup in each innings.
3. West Indies Face Their Shortest Innings Ever
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The West Indies faced just 371 balls in total during their two innings in the Multan Test, their shortest ever during a Test in which all 20 wickets fell. The previous lowest for them was 450 balls during the 2000 Test at Leeds against England. This is proof of how perfectly the spinners from both the West Indies and Pakistan could wreck the batting order. Notably, Pakistan did not take 20 wickets in fewer than 491 balls during their 2001 Test against Bangladesh in Multan, which is a rare feat of bowling.
4. Record Spinner Performances: A Historic Feat
The 2024-25 Multan Test became the third time this season that Pakistan’s spinners had all 20 wickets in a Test match. Prior to this season, it had only been achieved twice in Pakistan’s history, first at Faisalabad against West Indies in 1980, and then in Lahore against England in 1987.
A notable achievement during this match was the total of 34 wickets by the spinners, which marks a new record in the most wickets taken by spinners during a single Test match in Pakistan. The previous record had been at 32 wickets when Pakistan and England played a Test in Multan in 2023. Such an impact made by spin bowling in this Test underlined that conditions in Pakistan have often been favorable for the slower bowlers.
5. Jomel Warrican’s Historic Achievement
One individual performance that came from West Indies was that of Jomel Warrican who bowled outstandingly to take 7 wickets for 32 runs in Pakistan’s second innings. This bowling performance became the best-ever performance by a visiting spinner in Pakistan. Before this, the best figures by a visiting bowler in Pakistan had been 8 wickets by both Ravi Ratnayake and Kapil Dev.
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Warrican’s achievement became more historic in the sense that he became the first West Indian bowler and the fifth visiting bowler in Test cricket history to take a 10-wicket haul in a Test match in Pakistan. His remarkable performance would give the West Indies bowlers some recognition although they lost.
6. Record-Breaking Day of Wickets
On the second day of the Multan Test, an astonishing 19 wickets were taken, setting a new record for the most wickets taken in a single day in a Test match played in Pakistan. The previous record of 18 wickets was set during the 2003 Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh, also in Multan.
The third day continued to witness extraordinary wicket-taking, with 17 wickets falling across the day. The most prominent was the first session, where 12 wickets were lost in only two and a half hours. That is the highest number of wickets lost in an innings in a day’s play by any team since the start of 2010. The other occasion on which so many wickets fell in an innings within one session only was in the 2022 Galle Test when Sri Lanka faced Australia. On the third day, Sri Lanka lost 12 wickets before lunch.
7. West Indies’ Unusual Batting Record
The first unusual event of this Test came in West Indies’ first innings. For the first time ever in men’s Test cricket, a team’s top three run scorers all came from its ninth, tenth, and eleventh-ranked batsmen. Batting at number 10, Jomel Warrican remained not out on 31, Jayden Seals, at number 11, on 22, and batting at number 9, Gudakesh Moti, on 19.
This is the second time in the history of men’s Test cricket that this has happened, the first being in 1885 when the Australia vs. England Test was played, with Tom Garrett and Edwin Evans being the top run-scorers, and the second time in 2022, when Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood of England were the top run-scorers against West Indies.
A Test for the Ages
Undoubtedly, the 2024-25 Multan Test between Pakistan and West Indies will be remembered for dramatic turns of events, record-breaking performances, and the sheer dominance of spin bowling. It was from the shortest Test match in Pakistan’s history to a record-breaking number of wickets and the historic feats of individual players. The performance of the spinners, especially, has brought out how conditions in Pakistan still favor slow bowlers, making this match a landmark in recent Test cricket history.
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