Leg spinner Danish Kaneria brought Pakistan close to their first Test win in the West Indies in 17 years on the fourth day of the second and final Test in Kingston, Jamaica on Monday.
He dismissed Ramnaresh Sarwan (8), Brian Lara (0), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (0) and Devon Smith (49) to leave West Indies tottering on 114 for six chasing a target of 280 runs.
The other two wickets were picked up by pacers Shabbir Ahmed, who provided the initial breakthrough by having Chris Gayle (15) caught in the slips, and Abdul Razzaq who accounted for Wavell Hinds (19) in the same manner just before the close.
Kaneria's four for 36 gave his team their best chance of winning a Test match in the West Indies since 1988 and levelling the two-match series. Pakistan last won a Test in the Caribbean in April, 1988 in Guyana.
Kaneria's bowling also left West Indies staring at the 13th defeat of their last 20 Tests.
West Indies were left a challenging target shortly after lunch when Pakistan were bowled out for 309 runs with captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, who scored his 22nd hundred, undefeated on 117 from 194 balls with 14 fours.
The target proved a big ask on a deteriorating pitch that offered lot of assistance to the bowlers, particularly Kaneria.
West Indies' run chase was not helped by two delays caused by bad light and rain.
NINE BALLS
They lost Gayle just before the first delay with the score on 27 and, with only 6.4 overs possible when play resumed after a delay of nearly 90 minutes, Kaneria left them struggling on 56 for four as he picked up Sarwan, Lara and Chanderpaul in nine balls.
Only opener Devon Smith, who scored 49 from 109 balls with seven fours, batted resolutely but he also eventually fell to Kaneria, caught behind.
The leg spinner was unlucky to see umpire David Shephard, standing in his last and 92nd match, turn down a confident caught behind appeal against Sarwan.
But three balls later Kaneria was fortunate to see Sarwan tread back on to the stumps while trying to glide a ball to fine leg, leaving the home side on 48 for two.
With the score the same, Kaneria struck the killer blow when, with Lara having played just five balls, he had him dismissed down the leg side to a smart catch by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal with the master batsman walking himself.
It was the first time in the series that Kaneria had won his duel with Lara, who in his previous innings of 130 and 153 in the series had treated him savagely.
With the score on 56, Kaneria was fortunate to win a leg before decision against Chanderpaul who was given by Shephard as hit outside the off stump when he tried to pull across the line.
Earlier, Inzamam had stood firm as he saw fast bowler Tino Best dismiss Shahid Afridi (43), Abdul Razzaq (2), Kamran Akmal (1) and Shabbir Ahmed (0) to reduce Pakistan from 267 for four to 280 for eight before lunch.
Best finished with career best figures of 4 for 46 while Corey Collymore ended with match figures of 11 for 134.
Scoreboard:
Pakistan 1st innings: 374 (Y. Khan 106, A. Kamal 51, Inzamam-ul-Haq 50; C. Collymore 7-78)
West Indies 1st innings: 404 (B. Lara 153, W. Hinds 63, R. Sarwan 55; S. Ahmed 4-64)
Pakistan 2nd innings: (Overnight: 223-4)
S. Malik c Browne b Collymore 64
Y. Hameed c D.S. Smith b Collymore 26
Y. Khan c & b Gayle 43
A. Kamal lbw b Collymore 0
Inzamam-ul-Haq not out 117
S. Afridi c D.S. Smith b Best 43
A. Razzaq b Best 2
K. Akmal c Browne b Best 1
Naved-ul-Hasan b King 0
S. Ahmed c Browne b Best 0
D. Kaneria c & b Collymore 0
Extras (lb-2 nb-8 w-3) 13
Total (all out, 77.5 overs) 309
Fall of wickets: 1-66 2-119 3-119 4-194 5-267 6-273 7-279 8-280 9-295 10-309
Bowling: D. Powell 22-0-100-0 (nb-1 w-1), Best 13-1-46-4 (nb-1 w-1), King 16-1-70-1 (nb-6 w-1), Collymore 16.5-2-56-4, Gayle 10-2-35-1.
West Indies 2nd innings: (Target: 280 runs)
C. Gayle c Hameed b Ahmed 15
D.S. Smith c Akmal b Kaneria 49
R. Sarwan hit wkt b Kaneria 8
B. Lara c Akmal b Kaneria 0
S. Chanderpaul lbw b Kaneria 0
W. Hinds c Y. Khan b Razzaq 19
C. Browne not out 9
D. Powell not out 4
Extras (lb-1 nb-9) 10
Total (for 6 wickets, 40 overs) 114
Fall of wickets: 1-27 2-48 3-48 4-56 5-94 6-100
To bat: T. Best, R. King, C. Collymore
Bowling: Ahmed 12-1-40-1 (nb-1), Razzaq 14-5-37-1 (nb-8), Kaneria 14-5-36-4.