Pakistan arrive in Tarouba for a Test unlike any other they have played – the first ever staged at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy – carrying both a reunited captain-coach pairing and a 24-year unbeaten record against the West Indies that they will be desperate not to break, when the two sides meet in the first ICC World Test Championship match on Saturday.

The match will be the first-ever Test at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, making it the 13th Test centre in the Caribbean. Pakistan have not lost a Test series to the West Indies since 2000; four of the eight series since have finished 1-1, and one of Pakistan’s four series wins came in the Caribbean itself, when Misbah-ul-Haq’s side made history in 2016.

Pakistan came agonisingly close to a repeat in 2021, only to be denied by Kemar Roach, who struck an unbeaten 30 at No.9 to seal a one-wicket win in Kingston. Babar Azam was Pakistan’s captain that day, and no one will feel the pinch of that defeat more keenly: defending 168, Pakistan had reduced the West Indies to 114 for seven and then 151 for nine before Roach’s rearguard.

Pakistan won the second Test convincingly by 109 runs, but the first-Test defeat cost Babar the chance to become only the second Pakistan captain after Misbah to win a series in the Caribbean.

The two sides have already crossed paths at this venue: in a 2025 ODI series, Pakistan won the opener chasing 281 with seven balls and five wickets to spare, before the West Indies hit back to win the second by five wickets – restricting Pakistan to 171 for seven in 37 overs – and then sealed the series 2-1 by bowling Pakistan out for 92 to win the third by 202 runs.

The match also carries deeper significance: it will be the first Test the West Indies play since the death of Sir Garfield Sobers on 17 July, aged 89. Fittingly, the opponent is the same one against whom Sobers made his name – his maiden Test century, in just his 17th appearance, came against Pakistan at Sabina Park in February 1958, and he did not stop until he had made an unbeaten 365, then the highest score in Test history. The record stood for 36 years until fellow Barbadian Brian Lara surpassed it in 1994. Pakistan’s return to Caribbean soil so soon after his passing lends this new-venue opener an unexpectedly reflective edge.

The Babar-Sarfaraz reunion

To end their four-series win drought since October 2024, Pakistan have reverted to Babar Azam, who resigned in November 2023 after captaining his side to 10 victories in 20 Tests. Babar replaces Shan Masood, whose 16 Tests in charge yielded 12 defeats amid five coaching changes, nine debuts and constant selection upheaval.

Babar has reunited with Sarfaraz Ahmed, under whose captaincy – across 100 international matches – the champion batter played 88 games and grew into a world-class player. The PCB has not clarified how long the pair will be given, but continuity is the obvious call: if the board could tolerate Masood for 16 Tests and some indifferent selectors besides, it can extend Babar and Sarfaraz the same patience.

The value of a settled captain-coach axis needs no better illustration than Australia’s under Andrew McDonald and Pat Cummins. Since pairing up in 2023, they have delivered the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup, retained the Ashes at home in 2025-26 and reached another WTC final in 2025, alongside series wins in Pakistan (1-0, 2022), at home against India (3-1, 2024-25), in the West Indies (3-0, 2025) and in Sri Lanka (2-0, 2025).

It is the clearest case going for what stability, backed by results, can do for a Test side – precisely the model Pakistan will hope Babar and Sarfaraz can now build towards.

Selection headache

Pakistan’s warm-up form leaves selectors with a genuine call to make at the top and middle of the order. Azan Awais and Babar Azam both scored centuries in the four-day non-first-class match in Tarouba, and Abdullah Fazal (50 and 48) and Shan Masood (70) also impressed – but Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha all struggled, sharpening the choice ahead of Saturday.

If Azan and Abdullah open, as they did in the second Test against Bangladesh, the order would likely read: Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Awais Zafar, Salman Ali Agha and Mohammad Rizwan – with Awais Zafar handed a middle-order opportunity on merit, given Saud Shakeel is not in this squad and is expected to join the side in England instead.

But if selectors prefer to trust reputation over recent form, Imam-ul-Haq could return, pushing the order back towards the one used in the first Test against Bangladesh: Imam-ul-Haq, Azan Awais, Abdullah Fazal, Shan Masood, Babar Azam (who missed that Test through injury and would replace Saud Shakeel here), Salman Ali Agha and Mohammad Rizwan.

With the bat all but settled elsewhere, Aamir Jamal looks set to reclaim the No.8 all-rounder’s spot after scoring 22 and taking two wickets in the warm-up, with the remaining bowling places likely to go to Ali Usman (who would debut), Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Ali.

Pakistan’s attack looks thin on paper, and taking 20 West Indies wickets will require getting the team balance right: five specialist batters, one wicketkeeper-batter, one all-rounder and four specialist bowlers. Pakistan have strayed from that formula before and paid for it, losing nine of their last 15 Tests since Australia’s win in Lahore in March 2022.

The West Indies, by contrast, have been steadily re-emerging under coach Daren Sammy and captain Roston Chase – evident in their innings and 217 runs win over Sri Lanka in the first Test of their most recent series, before replying with 499 to Sri Lanka’s 549 for nine declared in the second. Set 302, they closed unbeaten on 109 for no loss as the match – and a 1-0 series win – was sealed.

Storylines to watch

• Pakistan’s first Test in the Caribbean since the passing of Sir Garfield Sobers
• Pakistan’s first Test at a brand-new Caribbean venue
• A 24-year unbeaten Test series record against the West Indies — and a stronger recent record on the road (five wins, seven losses in West Indies’ last 17 home Tests)
• Babar Azam’s chance to settle an old score after 2021’s one-wicket heartbreak
• The Imam-ul-Haq vs Awais Zafar selection call
• Pakistan head straight into a three-Test series in England from 19 August, against a home side also without a settled coach or captain following Ben Stokes’ retirement and Brendon McCullum’s departure

PAKISTAN SQUAD (to be selected from)

Babar Azam (captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Awais Zafar, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wicket-keeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah.

Test schedule:

25-29 Jul – 1st Test v West Indies, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba

2-6 Aug – 2nd Test v West Indies, Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain