Most Pakistan fans anticipated another slog in the field for their side when the second day's play in the first Test against West Indies came to a halt for lunch.
Shamar Joseph, who had joined a well-set Shai Hope a little while ago, had spanked Aamer Jamal for consecutive fours off the last two balls of the morning session. As he blazed an unbeaten 23 off 12 balls before lunch, each of his four fours and solitary six took Pakistan fans back to that fateful day two years ago when an unbeaten 51-run stand between Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada in Centurion took South Africa over the line, after Pakistan had almost conjured the possibility of an improbable win by removing Kyle Verreynne, David Bedingham and Corbin Bosch in four balls.
Before those blows from Joseph, it had taken Pakistan 29 balls to induce an edge from Kemar Roach on a morning that they had largely dominated with their disciplined lengths. There were signs of the continuation of the trend but then came Mohammad Ali and, to the surprise of many, it took them only 15 minutes after lunch to wrap up the tail. Ali, who was playing his first Test in almost two years and his fifth overall since making his debut in December 2022, has shown the ability to fit in despite not being the tearaway Pakistan have been looking for.
Ali bounced out Joseph on the second ball of the afternoon session and then trapped Hope, who had held the innings together with a defiant 92, in his next over with one that nipped back. To finish the innings, he sent down a scorching inswinger that zipped through Jayden Seales' defences and sent his off stump cartwheeling. That wicket completed his maiden four-for in Test cricket. He had never taken more than two wickets in an innings before in the format.
Ali is among the last of a dying breed of fast bowlers in Pakistan who prioritise red-ball cricket over the shorter formats. He has been a regular on the first-class circuit since his debut in the 2018-19 season despite two false starts to his Test career. He was dropped after being asked to bowl on featherbeds against the rampaging Bazballers in Rawalpindi and Multan before being brought back 18 months later for the two Tests against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi before being pushed into oblivion again.
Six wickets at an average of 67.66 did not make a convincing case for selection. But that Pakistan went back to Ali, especially when they were looking past their most experienced fast bowlers in Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali, underscored the reputation he has built with his consistent performances in first-class cricket. In the 2025-26 domestic season, he took 51 wickets across 15 matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy - in which he was the leading wicket-taker for finalists Sialkot - and the President's Trophy.
That Pakistan's domestic first-class cricket has been played with the Dukes ball for the last two seasons - the same as the Test series in the West Indies - is likely to have helped him in Tarouba. Ali got the ball to move, regardless of its state, in the air and off the surface throughout his four spells on day one and the morning of day two.
"We were a bit short in our lengths yesterday and the pitch was behaving a bit slow," Ali told the host broadcaster after the second day's play. "There was a bit of lateral movement for the fast bowlers but the batters could manage it easily. When we arrived today, we - the coaches and the fast bowlers - had a discussion that we need to pitch the ball more in the fuller area. There was more lateral movement for fast bowlers today though the pitch had dried up a bit and there was decent carry through to the keeper."
Ali threatened the leading edges of the West Indies batters by serving the ball into the driving zones from wide of the crease and moving them away late. But he would often nip the odd one back into the right-hand batters by releasing the ball from close to the stumps.
"A batter can get used to a particular angle and it becomes easier for him to play you," he said. "So I look to create different angles by utilising the crease, which keeps the batter guessing about what is coming next."
After Kavem Hodge was dismissed by Khurram Shahzad, West Indies' hopes rested on Hope. Ali, for the most part of the day, swung the ball away from Hope after landing it on a length, enticing him to prod at it. Hope almost succumbed when he hung his bat out to a delivery that curved away from a length after angling in, only for Azan Awais to shell the chance at first slip. But Ali persisted with the plan and was soon rewarded with his first Test wicket on comeback when Justin Greaves fell into his trap. After bowling one that nipped into Greaves, Ali swung the ball away and got a thick outside edge which flew to Salman Ali Agha at second slip.
It may not have swung as prodigiously had there not been a crucial adjustment earlier.
"I am a natural outswing bowler and I bowled with the breeze today [which was blowing from my right shoulder to the left]," he said. "I chose the wrong end yesterday after which my coaches told me that this end would suit me more."
But all this time, Ali had his eyes on the wicket of Hope, who had started to anticipate his outswingers. It was in the third over of the afternoon session that Ali finally got the better of Hope as he nipped one into the stumps from wide of the crease to trap him in front.
"Shai Hope's wicket was the most important for me," Ali said. "He was scoring runs with ease as he had been at the crease since the morning. I knew he could trouble us if he stayed longer as 20-30 runs more at that stage could have taken the game away from us. So it was an important wicket not only for me but for our team as well."
Ali started the second day without a wicket to his name despite suffocating the batters on the first day. It had been a pattern in his Test career: the last four of the five innings in which he had bowled turned out the same way. Ali knew the wickets would come if he stuck to his process. "I have played so much first-class cricket back in Pakistan that I am aware when you are doing good you have to stay consistent with your lengths and make things challenging for the batters."