By Pakistan enter a must-win second Test against West Indies at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain from Sunday, August 2, 2026, needing victory to level the two-match series.
West Indies took the series opener in Tarouba by 90 runs, pushing Pakistan’s away Test losing streak to eight matches and heading into the decider as favourites.
Opener Shan Masood will sit out with a fractured finger, with Abdullah Shafique coming in as his replacement for the second Test.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has added batter Saud Shakeel to the squad as extra cover, a change that should give all-rounder Aamer Jamal a steadier position in the order after shuffling spots in the first Test.
The five-day match runs from August 2 to 6, with play starting at 10 am local time (2 pm GMT) daily.
A win or draw secures the series for West Indies, while Pakistan must win outright at Port of Spain to force a 1-1 series scoreline.
The two-match series is part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, adding extra context to how each side approaches results on this tour.
Mohammad Ali took four wickets in West Indies’ first innings of the opening Test, one of the few individual bright spots for Pakistan’s bowling attack across the four-day defeat in Tarouba.
In the first Test, seamer Khurram Shahzad drew West Indies’ top-scorer Kavem Hodge into an edge that captain Salman Agha snapped up at slip inside the first three overs of the third day.
The first Test defeat extended Pakistan’s away Test losing streak to eight consecutive matches, a run that has put fresh scrutiny on the team’s batting depth and away-from-home form.
Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain has a long history as a Caribbean cricket venue, having hosted Test matches since 1930 and remaining one of the region’s most storied grounds.
Photo by Dominic Sayers, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
