PAK vs WI: Gudakesh Motie creates West Indies history by taking new ball

History was scripted on day one of the first Test between Pakistan and West Indies in Multan as West Indies began a Test match with spin for the first time in history.

After Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first, touring skipper Kraigg Brathwaite threw the ball to left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie. History was scripted then and there as in 582 previous Tests, West Indies had NEVER opened proceedings in a Test match with a spinner.

There had been four previous instances of the Windies beginning an innings with a spinner, but all of them came in the third or fourth innings of matches. The last bowler to do so was Veerasammy Permaul against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2021, in the third innings of the match.

Instances of spinner bowling the first over of an innings for West Indies

Sonny Ramadhin vs England at The Oval in 1950 (3rd inns)

Rahkeem Cornwall vs Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2021 (4th inns)

Rahkeem Cornwall vs Sri Lanka in Galle in 2021 (3rd inns)

Veerasammy Permaul vs Sri Lanka in Galle in 2021 (3rd inns)

Gudakesh Motie vs Pakistan in Multan in 2025 (1st inns)*

The unusual move from Brathwaite paid dividends as Motie removed opposing skipper Shan Masood in the ninth over of the game. 

This was just the fourth time in the last 12 years that a spinner bowled the first ball of a Test. The other three instances were Sajid Khan against England in Rawalpindi in 2024, Taijul Islam against Afghanistan in Chattogram in 2019, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz against Sri Lanka in Mirpur in 2018.