Motie scored his maiden Test fifty and also picked three important wickets as West Indies took the lead even after getting bowled out for 163
West Indies’ Gudakesh Motie had a magical day in Multan on Day 1 of the second Test of the two-match series against Pakistan at the Multan Cricket Stadium. Motie scored his maiden Test fifty as he took the team from 54/8 to 163, adding useful runs with number 10 and 11 Kemar Roach and Jomel Warrican respectively.
Motie reasoned why he was able to play spin better than most of the batters. He said, “I was trying to be patient and looked to score when the bad ball presented itself. We’ve worked on spin, we do use a lot of spin back home and I think I’m capable enough to bat against the spinners.”
Motie, who is from Guyana and pitches there have slowed down considerably, giving a lot of help to spinners. Motie, who has a first-class hundred and two fifties to his name and averages 22.02 in the format, finally showed his ability with the bat at the highest level.
However, in his main trait-bowling, Motie was equally impressive, picking three important wickets of Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam and Salman Ali Agha to give West Indies a lead of nine runs, dismissing Pakistan for 154.
-Explaining their plan with the ball, the 29-year-old said, “We knew it was a difficult wicket to bat, once we got it at the right area, it was difficult for the batters. I have been working with the analysts, they’ve put in the work and I was able to hit the areas today.”
“Whenever you put pace on the ball, it would slide on and make it easier to score, so you needed to vary the pace and bowl slower,” added the left-arm spinner, who improved immensely, picking three wickets in the first innings, after taking only two wickets in the first Test.
