With the second test match between the West Indies and Pakistan nearly underway (2nd August 2026 at Port of Spain, Trinidad), this could be a historic performance that helps start creating a baseline for the “Men In Maroon” to get back to their 1980’s and 90’s ways. After defeating Sri Lanka by 1-0 in a two-match set at home, their hope is to move past England into 7th position in WTC 2025-27.
View this post on Instagram
Despite Alzarri Joseph making Darren Sammy lose his patience by opting out from the series without any injury reasoning, their new group of bowlers are slowly building something special that the Windies have been waiting for years. Knowing that Roston Chase still has many questions to answer as captain, he hopes to make pundits and analysts even more confident in his leadership after this match.
Meanwhile, Pakistan have been a total disaster in the Test format ever since beating South Africa in November last year and keep tumbling in both performance plus having skilled players. To stop this colossal downfall, in which they have won less than 7% of matches, a match like this could be their last hope, with three tough matches against England coming up.
A team that lacks a plan, Sarfaraz Ahmed having been appointed head coach, the results haven’t been great with Bangladesh winning both Test matches; if Pakistan end up losing this match, they could potentially move on to a third coach in such few months. Now that the 1st Test match centurion Shan Masood is not available due to injury, Babar Azam will have to show an innate ability to do something different as the head, or they will have to go to the drawing board for the hundredth time.
West Indies: Batting Performance Has To Just Do Enough To Counter The Other Side
When people look at this Windies side, one thing that’s clear is their batting doesn’t have to be excellent, but just hit a certain point, which will help their bowling and fielding side carry out the rest. As we saw in the first match, where they scored over 300 in the first innings, that gave them a decent lead, and they could defend anything around the 200-run lead mark.
For the West Indies, their openers will be Brandon King, 448 runs in 17 innings and 4 half-centuries, while either Tangerine Chanderpaul or a potential replacement in Kirk McKenzie could start on the other side. Now, when we talk about one down, after the recent performance Kavem Hodge had- an 84-run knock- he will potentially continue there and hope to get his third-ever century.
As Amir Jangoo hit a 200+ knock in their previous series against Sri Lanka, he looks to bounce back after a couple of bumpy performances and should provide an option that could be out batting all day. Having scored 297 runs in just 6 innings, it’s been great to see Sammy include him in the squad consistently, while the main batsmen in Shai Hope, will come in at a very preferred 3-down position.
With Hope also having 4 centuries to his own name and scoring over 2,000 runs, the Windies want him to be that same 25-30+ run performer, as Roston Chase is going to be a threat after him. When we talk about the batting down the order, that’s where it gets real scary because Shamar Joseph, 382 runs in 26 innings, and Justin Greaves, three centuries, add so much depth. To round it out, Kemar Roach is another piece that has shown proper test batting ability and should help their score.
West Indies: Legendary Bowling Attack Trying To Make History Again
Over these last couple of matches, it has been clear that the West Indies’ main strength is their bowling, and that is something they could rely on, plus build around for this match. The big piece is Jayden Seales, who has officially crossed 100 wickets; he resembles the prototypical bowler from the islands that is tall and can bowl with a lot of swing.
Someone who gets his (*Jayden Seales) speed up to nearly 140 and can have a consistent angle at the batter, their other main pacer, Shamar Joseph, continues being a young and fresh hero for the nation. After many wrote him off as just someone who can perform against Australia, he has lately proved all the doubters wrong and reached 61 career wickets in just 14 matches.
The medium pacer in Justin Greaves was last matches hero after having an amazing late spell to change the game completely, while also being someone that they can rely on in limited overs too. Now up to 31 test wickets, he picked up his first ever 5-wicket haul last match and should quietly be a force again.
The one name no one mentions is Jomel Warrican, as he’s become a key test-only player whose picked up 78 wickets in 24 games and their true left-handed orthodox threat. To close it out, the most veteran player on this side is Kemar Roach, who hopes to continue improving past 300+ wickets, and Roston Chase will be their main spinner, who seems to perform in any condition.
Pakistan: Batters Could Be In A World Of Trouble One More Time
When we see Pakistan as a batting unit, they have never shown the ability to perform multiple times in a row, but have random amazing performances. This could be possible in the second match, but it all starts with Azan Awais, who, outside of his 100, has averaged less than 12 runs a match. With Iman Ul-Haq being excellent at certain times, but being completely out of it at others, the big question becomes: can he finally put it together and have a dominant innings in these conditions?
At one-down, Babar Azam looks like his form is back after hitting a half-century last match, but he will need more help as he can’t just single-handedly carry this side. Salman Ali Agha was supposed to be a massive name for this side and lead them to destiny, but this is one batter whose fallen far short of expecations and will be heavily needed moving forward if Pakistan want to succeed.
As Mohammad Rizwan is another guy who continues failing inning after inning, he is on a similar short leash to Salman Ali Agha and could help everything grow or fall from grace for him in this match. Aamir Jamil has been decent down the order with his two half-centuries, but outside of a name like Mohammad Abbas, they don’t have any other batters down there that can at least put up 20+ runs on an innings basis.
Pakistan: New Pace Attack Didn’t Seem To Look Very Ideal
On the bowling side, outside of two names, their other bowlers were getting absolutely torched and destroyed ball after ball. Mohammad Abbas has been quite the story as he was a very late find, but has been nothing but beneficial for this side from the right end.
As a medium pacer, Abbas has managed to pick up 100+ wickets in his shorter career and was one of Pakistan’s only hopes in their last match. Outside of him, the other name was Mohammad Ali took 6 wickets in the last match and showed that he’s another test bowler with potential to rack up stats in his late career. Aamir Jamal and Khurram Shazad may go out as their two other options, but after going for economies of nearly 4 and giving West Indies batters more freedom, they may not be ideal.
Final Predictions
Probable Playing 11
West Indies Key Players
Jayden Seales- Built like he’s a 90’s West Indies bowler and continues being a big wicket-taker
Kavem Hodge- Late career sprint and could potentially be top-order star for next few years
Kemar Roach- Most experienced bowler that continues delivering with incredible pace and length
Roston Chase- Captain that can create turn with ball and score key runs
Shamar Joseph- A true bowling finisher that will always come up big under pressure
Pakistan Key Players
Mohammad Ali- Main pacer and currently Pakistan’s most trusted player in any moment
Babar Azam-One of the only batters that continues performing and waiting for a strong partner alongside him
Mohammad Rizwan- Thinks he is better than everyone now; needs to prove it
Prediction
West Indies are red-hot favorites to win the match & register their first Test series win against Pakistan after 2000. Pakistan, on the other hand, have lost 8 away Test matches after whitewashing Sri Lanka in 2023 & are on a streak & are in a deep muddle as the team lacks camaraderie.
The battle will once again be of West Indies’ quicks vs Pakistani batters; if Pakistan frustrate Caribbean bowlers, then they would have a strong chance of winning.
Also Read: IPL 2026: Kumar Sangakkara Questions Sam Curran’s Unavailability For IPL 2026.