West Indies slight favourites as Pakistan hope for Test turnaround

Jul 25, 2026 Sports

Kaieteur Sports – It’s hard to believe this now about the 1980s, but like cassette tapes, smoking on airplanes, and mullets, West Indies against Pakistan in Test cricket was actually considered cool. These two sides were as close to must-watch as Test cricket was in that decade, the best players competing in some of the most iconic series. But the 80s moved on and left a lot of things behind in their wake, including, in a lot of ways, West Indies and Pakistan cricket.

Thirty-eight years on from the greatest series between these sides, West Indies and Pakistan take each other on in the Caribbean again. This time, it’s a basement battle rather than a championship clash; these two sides are the two lowest-ranked sides in the current World Test Championship cycle, with West Indies narrowly ahead of Pakistan on eighth. Pakistan have lost 12 of their last 16 Tests, while West Indies have won just one of their previous ten. It is a sustained rot rather than a snapshot; in the last cycle, too, West Indies and Pakistan finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

West Indies slight favourites as Pakistan hope for Test turnaround

Jayden Seales and Kemar Roach bump fists after the winning runs (PCB)

For the hosts, this represents a rare opportunity to put points on the board in a series where they are clear, if not necessarily outright, favourites. West Indies have built up a deceptively good repertoire of seam bowlers, even if it has not necessarily reflected in their Test results of late. Their pace attack is one that, with Shamar Joseph’s blistering pace, Jayden Seales’ impressive record against Pakistan, and Kemar Roach’s agelessness, should withstand the blow of Alzarri Joseph’s unavailability.

The hosts come into the series with a solid home win over Sri Lanka, one that, with Amir Jangoo’s double-hundred, offers the prospect of batting talent that may scale up to the international stage. The quality of the batting order is comparable, at least to Pakistan’s, and with Jomel Warrican and Roston Chase, West Indies should be able to match Pakistan for spin should the pitches lean that way.

The headline for Pakistan is a little more rearranging of the deck chairs. Shan Masood is out as captain after a miserable 30-month stint, with Babar Azam retaking the armband initially taken off him. Whether that can overhaul the more tangible aspects of Pakistan’s Test decline remains to be seen; much of their Test side has not seen much of an overhaul in that time. It may not be a huge surprise to find the same people throwing up the same results.

Aamer Jamal’s return is a point of interest for a Pakistan side in search of a two-in-one cricketer of the kind Faheem Ashraf ultimately failed to be in Test cricket. A seam-bowling allrounder with a series coming up in England next month, Jamal at his best offers Pakistan balance in the lower order. That should especially come in handy when they’re unsure of the best bowling combination, as, perhaps, is the case with a Test on a ground that has never seen Test cricket before.

The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba will make its debut on Saturday with this game, and though there is a vague expectation it might favour slower bowling, having that seam-bowling allrounder to hedge with is a cosy position to be in.

While these may not be vintage West Indies and Pakistan sides, they have thrown up absorbing clashes in recent history, especially in the Caribbean. West Indies’ one-wicket victory in 2021 is one of the great Test matches this decade, while Pakistan’s Yasir-Shah-inspired 2-1 win in dying light in 2017 capped off a series whose drama made up for its relative modesty of quality.

Four of the last seven series between these two teams have ended up drawn, and while West Indies and Pakistan don’t challenge the very best anymore, they certainly challenge each other right down to the wire.

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