Pakistan's Khan, Ahmed help to crush West Indies in first test

Sajid Khan and Abrar Ahmed led the charge for Pakistan, bundling out West Indies for 123 to win the first test in Multan by 127 runs on the third day as spinners ruled the roost.

It was the shortest completed men's test match in Pakistan with 40 wickets falling in 1064 balls.

Spinners took 16 wickets on Sunday as Jomel Warrican's seven-wicket haul restricted Pakistan's second innings to 157, setting a target of 251 for West Indies, who failed to get a partnership going on the turn-heavy track.

"It's hard out there. Batting was hard," Pakistan captain Shan Masood said.

"In the second innings, we folded cheaply. There are improvements to be made. When you win, you can go on a happy ride and be happy. But we can't do that."

Pakistan, who had a 93-run lead after the first innings, started from an overnight score of 109-3, but Warrican struck early, dismissing Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan in his successive overs.

Warrican's destructive spell continued with Kamran Ghulam (27) getting caught behind soon after and, with Salman Agha (14) becoming Gudakesh Motie's solitary wicket of the innings, the hosts collapsed, having lost seven wickets in 48 runs.

"We'll take a look at how Warrican bowled. As spinners we should take a look at that. He was bringing the batters forward," West Indies captain Kraigg Braithwaite said.

BRAITHWAITE FALLS

Braithwaite (12) was the first to fall when the visitors began the chase as he tried to hit Khan for a six but ended up finding Khurram Shahzad at deep mid-wicket.

Keacy Carty (6) tried to sweep Khan, but the ball nicked his glove and was caught by wicketkeeper Rizwan. Khan bamboozled Kavem Hodge (0) and Mikyle Louis (13) soon after, bowling them out with sharp turns as West Indies fell to 37-4.

Alick Athanaze (55) put up a fight, scoring quick runs to put the pressure back on the bowlers. But Ahmed kept knocking batters down at the other end, as Tevin Imlach (14) and Kevin Sinclair (10) fell before they could fully settle down.

Athanaze was finally trapped leg before wicket by Khan, and a defiant Warrican was the last to fall as he was bowled out for a duck trying to reverse sweep Ahmed.

"The wicket had a lot of turn and bounce... it was our strategy to throttle the runs. If we could do that, wickets would come automatically," said Khan.

He took nine wickets in the test, including five in the second innings in a player-of-the-match performance.

Pakistan have now won three home tests in a row, having beaten England twice to win their three-match series 2-1 in October.

Braithwaite said the visitors needed to be brave going into the second and final test of the series, which begins at the same venue on Jan. 25.

"It's important to be positive on these types of pitches," he said. "We should show intent...if we can bring it together batting and bowling-wise we can come out on top."