West Indies left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican has termed his 6 for 112 in the ongoing Port of Spain Test "extremely special" for the workload he took on and the rewards he reaped for it. With captain Roston Chase nursing an injury in his index finger and only able to send down seven overs, Warrican bowled 46 overs - exactly 40% of the 115 that Pakistan faced in their first innings - and dragged West Indies back into a contest they seemed to have let slip from their grasp.
Pakistan began day three at 266 for 2, trailing West Indies by 78 runs, and hoping to build a substantial lead. As it happened, they lost 8 for 106, with Warrican leading the way to restrict West Indies' first-innings deficit to 43 runs.
"I think that's probably the [performance] I'll cherish the most, because the team was down and the skipper was struggling with his finger, and I had to take up the mantle of working hard and bowling all those extra overs to help out the team," Warrican said at the end of the day's play. "In terms of workload and to get rewarded for bowling so many overs, it felt extremely special."
It was Warrican's third five-wicket haul in Tests, and his first at home.
"I always wanted a five-for at home," he said. "That's something that I will cherish, because watching the highlights when it's showing old clips, it's always home series, and I always wanted to be in the dressing room watching an old clip of me getting a five-for, and it happened in this game, so I'm really happy about that."
After coming back into the match so strongly, West Indies found themselves on the back foot once more when their second innings began, with Pakistan offspinner Sajid Khan taking four wickets to help reduce them to 103 for 6 - effectively 60 for 6 - by stumps.
"As a team we've got to get close to 150-175 to be comfortable and have a game," Warrican said. "So we've got to have a plan on how we're going to get it, and execute it when we get to bat tomorrow."
Aware of how challenging fourth-innings chases can be, Sajid felt Pakistan would need to take the remaining West Indies wickets as quickly as possible.
"Tomorrow is the fourth day, and you know how the wicket will play, so we'll try to bowl them out as early as possible," he said. "The smaller the target, the better it is for our batsmen. We'll try our best to get the remaining wickets for at most 60-70 runs."
Sajid felt the pitch was not yet treacherous, and that batters who bided their time would be able to score runs on it. He took the examples of Justin Greaves and Chase, who scored half-centuries in West Indies' first innings, and of Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam, who scored 160 and 88 during Pakistan's reply. Sajid himself contributed what could be a crucial 30 in the lower order.
"If you look at the wicket, on day one, because the sun wasn't out, there was moisture for the first two-to-four hours, and we got some help, but after that, whenever we have bowled, it hasn't been the kind of wicket where you don't know what's going to happen, how much it will turn," he said.
"Whoever has taken their time, they have made runs too. Whether it's Chase and Greaves from their side - both took their time and made runs - or Abdullah bhai, who batted for more than 300 balls. I took time, faced 72 balls, and made runs. Babar bhai took so much time and made runs. Whoever takes their time will score runs."
Given Chase's limited bowling role, Sajid felt Pakistan would have an advantage when they begin the fourth innings. While Pakistan have two frontline spinners in Sajid and Ali Usman, West Indies only have one in Warrican.
"There will be challenges," Sajid said. "It will be difficult against the new ball, and it will be important for the batters to take their time.
"We have one plus point - we are playing two spinners, while they only have one. If they are bowling spin from only one end, you'll get runs comfortably at the other end. They don't have another genuine spinner. They have three fast bowlers, and a fast-bowling allrounder.
"So I feel it may not be that difficult, inshallah."