Kraigg Brathwaite has achieved something no one has ever done in Test history
Kraigg Brathwaite became the first opener in Test cricket history to remain unbeaten in both the innings as West Indies defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets in the 3rd Test at Sharjah. Brathwaite, who had scored an unbeaten 142 in the first innings, played an unbeaten knock of 60 in the second innings.
After bundling out Pakistan for 208 in their second innings, West Indies were left to chase 153. However, they were struggling at 67/5 on the fourth day before Brathwaite and Shane Dowrich came together on the crease. Resuming from their overnight scores of 114/5, the duo saw their team over the line on the fifth day with an unbroken partnership of 87 runs.
Skipper Jason Holder praised Brathwaite, who had spent all five days on the field, in the post-match interview. He said, "We showed character and fight. Credit must go to Kraigg Brathwaite. He played an outstanding innings in the first innings and took responsibility of the chase in the second innings. Even though we lost the series, we did a lot of things right."
Brathwaite was elated with what he has rated as the best batting performance in his career. He said, "This has been the best batting Test match so far of my career. I hope to repeat this feat many times in my career," he said. "I've had a good start. The key is to maintain it. I don't want to get comfortable. I just want to continue working hard and score a lot of runs."
The 23-year-old went on to explain their gameplan while chasing the target in the fifth innings.
"The plan was to keep rotating strike and bring the target down. I knew my weak and strong areas. It was just a case of working around my strengths and backing my abilities. I knew on a low pitch, getting onto the front foot to play your strokes would give more runs than staying on the back foot," Brathwaite said, reported ESPNcricinfo.