Pakistan dominated the first day of their 400th Test, piling on 279 for 1, after Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and opted to bat. Openers Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam made the most of the batting-friendly conditions in Dubai, sharing a double-century stand, before Asad Shafiq came in at No. 3 and lent his weight to a batting effort that deflated West Indies.

In theory, both teams were in uncharted territory, playing their first day-night Test - and the second overall - at a time when the concept is still new, with the behaviour of the pink ball under scrutiny. In practice, the ball did not do much in the afternoon heat and, while there was a bit more for the West Indies bowlers under lights, they did not do enough to threaten the batsmen for sustained periods.

The pink ball offered very little swing to the new-ball bowlers and very little reverse-swing as it got older. On both counts, West Indies did not help their own cause. At the start of the day, both Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder were too short to give the new ball a chance to swing. Miguel Cummins bowled fuller, but not consistently enough. As the ball grew older, West Indies seemed uninterested in keeping one side shiny to extract reverse-swing.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Take a look at the stats of our four main bowlers and tell me if 279/1, is surprising.

Holder: In his 17 test has only taken 22 wickets. Never five wickets or more in an inning
Gabriel: In his 20 tests has 39 wickets and like Holder has never had 5 or more in an inning
Cummins: In his games has 9 wickets and never had 5 wickets. Combined these three bowlers would have played 40 tests and took a total of 70 wickets, less than two wickets per game.
Bishoo has taken 5 wickets twice but after 18 games only 59 wickets? who can we bowl out?2015 was the last time Bishoo got 5 wickets in a test while opposing spinners have had several wickets against us. Not only that but part time spinners like K. Brathwaite and Chase both had 5 wicket hauls, while Bishoo only got 1 wicket and 0 wicket

In reply to sandisha
Actually Cummins had a 6-fer-45 against India only a few months ago, however we should wait and see how the pitch acts when WI bats, because it seem to be a good batting pitch now the WI is bowling.

In reply to dayne

You are right @dayne because Cummins did take 6-48. However our bowling is vey weak. I feel windies threw Shane Shillinford under the bus too early even if he was reported for his action. Let's not forget in 16 matches he had 72 wkts, five wkts in an inning 6 times, and four wkts 4 times. When last we saw that stats from a West Indian bowler? Narine was also reported twice but see how they rushed him into the ODI's? No matter how flat the wicket may be I bet you we will go down by an inning because we do not have batsmen with class on this current team