Speaking after the game on Saturday, Noman said “a game like that had to happen” given the extreme conditions on offer.

“We will do our best [to bowl West Indies out quickly] because it is 1737828989 a one-innings game,” Noman said after Pakistan fell nine runs short of the visitors’ total. “In the first innings, for their last-wicket partnership, the runs we gave away were a little extra. So we will try not to give such runs again.”

Noman said this is not something the team thinks about as it faced criticism even when the tests went all the way. “Even when we used to have a full five-day game before, fans criticized us a lot,” he said. “We were criticized for saying that the results are not coming. [But] now comes the results. If the results come in two or three days, then I think [it is fine]. The results have been positive so far and we will try to make this match also have a positive result.”

Pakistan had West Indies at 54 for 8 before the tailenders pushed them to 163. In the first innings of the first Test, West Indies had recovered from 66 for 8 to 137. Noman said Pakistan “made some mistakes” which they will try to avoid in the second concert.

Franklin: Both batting orders are finding it difficult

“I don’t think it’s just the West Indies top order; I think both batting orders are having a very difficult time on this pitch,” Franklin said. “There is a lot of spin, [and] a lot of bounce – sometimes inconsistent too. So when you go out there as a batter, I think the first 20-30 balls are very challenging to adjust to the wicket. I think you’ve seen batsmen who can get through the opening 20-30 balls and get 15-20 runs under their belt in their innings, the game suddenly looks a bit more comfortable from a batting point of view.”

“We have seen a little of that [Mohammad] Rizwan over both Test matches, we’ve seen that a bit from Saud Shakeel, [and] we’ve seen it from some of our bottom-order batsmen who could do that. We saw that from Alick Athanaze in the first test.”

Franklin is looking to set small goals for its batters as they enter their second innings with a slim lead. He said it would be “very competitive” if the West Indies end up posting a score in the “high hundred, 200, [or] 200-plus”. Franklin just wanted his batters “to look at little milestones”.

“You know 30, 40-run partnerships can be quite significant in these Test matches here in Multan,” Franklin said. “We saw that in the first Test, we’re seeing that today. I think if we reflect on the three-and-a-bit days of this Test series so far, there’s only been one huge difference – and it was 100 runs [141] partnership on day one of test one. Other than that, it’s been very even between both sides.”