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Pakistan whipped the West Indies by a 199 runs in the third and final Test to complete a hat-trick of home series wins with leg-spinner Danish Kaneria emerging as the local hero on the last day here at the National Stadium on Friday.

Just when it seemed that a resolute Shivnarine Chanderpaul (69) and murky conditions might end the match in a draw, Kaneria (3-69) took two wickets in two balls soon after tea to put Pakistan back on track. Medium pacer Abdul Razzaq (2-23) then removed the tail-enders to give the home team a 2-0 series triumph.

The West Indians, needing 444 to win, were bowled out for 244 more than an hour before scheduled close of play.

Medium pacer Umar Gul (3-89), Pakistan’s best bowler in the series, landed two major blows in the first session of the day when he got rid of the great Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan to swing the match in Pakistan’s way.

The result completes a convincing series win for Pakistan after a nine-wicket victory in Lahore and a drawn Test in Multan. It may have come against a rather second-rated West Indies Test side but the 2-0 triumph should serve as a tonic for Pakistan, playing without their key strike bowlers ñ Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif ñ both banned for doping.

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq praised his team for what he described was a superb result. ìIt is a superb series win and all credit goes to the entire team,î he said after the match.

It was a tough last day for both the sides with West Indies chasing an almost impossible target of 444 to level the series and Pakistan looking for eight wickets on a wicket that had eased out a lot.

With a mountain to climb, Lara and Sarwan began confidently but it was quite clear from the very start that the tourists had no intentions of taking a shot at the 444-run victory target. Having lost both openers Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga overnight, the only realistic target for the West Indians was a draw.

Lara had declared at the end of the fourth day that he and fellow batsmen would make their wickets precious, and he did look in good form. He and Sarwan handled the likes of Gul, Shahid Nazir and Kaneria well in the best part of an extended first session of the day and put on 80 runs for the third wicket.

Lara produced a series of crisp boundaries and looked in sublime form. Sarwan, struggling to cement his place back in the Test squad, was also in good touch.

But the reintroduction of Gul to bowl the 30th over of the innings resulted in the end of what was slowly turning into another big Lara knock.

At 49, Lara played a rather short Gul delivery a bit too early and hit it in the air and Shoaib Malik took a superb low catch at short cover.

It was a fatal blow as the tourists’ hopes of saving the Test sank with Lara’s dismissal. The Pakistanis were celebrating again just minutes later when Gul returned in his next over to produce a toe-crushing yorker that sent Sarwan out of this Test and also the one-day series to be held later this month. Sarwan was batting on 35 and failed against a swinging delivery that left him with a hairline fracture on his right instep.

He was rushed to the hospital for x-rays that revealed a fracture, making it sure he will not be able to resume his innings.

Runako Morton (16) hit Kaneria for six and two boundaries in one over but the spinner soon extracted revenge when he forced the batsman to play an uppish shot and caught him off his own bowling.

Chanderpaul fought a lone battle and managed to take the match into the final session with some support through Dwayne Bravo (26) and Denesh Ramdin (25 not out) from the other end.

But the visitors lost their last four wickets for only 18 runs in the post tea session as Kaneria and Razzaq ripped through the lower order. In the process, Razzaq completed his 100 wickets in 46 Tests.

It was a good finish to the Test that was illuminated by Mohammad Yousuf’s record-breaking streak with centuries in each innings on a wicket that was rejected as ësubstandard’ by most experts. Yousuf smashed a record ninth Test century and erased Sir Vivian Richards’ record of most runs in a Test. He was named the man-of-the-match.

The last time Pakistan drew a Test on this venue was against Australia in 1998 and since then six consecutive matches have ended in a result with the hosts winning five of them.

Scoreboard

Pakistan won toss

Pakistan 1st inns 304 (Imran Farhat 47, Mohammad Yousuf 102)

West Indies 1st inns 260 (C H Gayle 40, D Ganga 81, D Ramdin 50; Umar Gul 4-79)

Pakistan 2nd inns 399-6 dec (Mohammad Hafeez 104, Mohammad Yousuf 124, Inzamam-ul-Haq 58*)

West Indies 2nd inns (overnight 39-2)

C H Gayle b Umar 2

D Ganga lbw b Shahid 2

*B C Lara c Shoaib b Umar 49

R R Sarwan retired hurt 35

S Chanderpaul lbw b Kaneria 69

R S Morton c & b Kaneria 16

D J Bravo c Younis b Shahid 26

†D Ramdin not out 25

D B Powell c Younis b Kaneria 0

J E Taylor lbw b Razzaq 1

C D Collymore lbw b Razzaq 0

Extras (b5, lb9, nb5) 19

Total (all out, 76 overs) 244

Fall: 1-2, 2-17, 3-97, 4-126, 5-183, 6-227, 7-227, 8-236, 9-244

Bowling: Umar Gul 19-2-89-2 (3nb); Shahid Nazir 18-6-49-2 (2nb); Danish Kaneria 26-6-69-3; Shoaib Malik 1-1-0-0; Abdul Razzaq 12-5-23-2

Result: Pakistan won by 199 runs

Series: Pakistan won the 3-match series 2-0

Man of the Match: Mohammad Yousuf

Player of the Series: Mohammad Yousuf

Umpires: M R Benson (England) and D J Harper (Australia). TV umpire: Riazuddin. Match referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka)

Previous matches: November 11-14 1st Test Lahore, Pakistan won by 9 wickets. November 19-23 2nd Test Multan, match drawn

Note: R R Sarwan retired hurt at 101-3 (35 not out)
Source:The News