Pakistan’s Test cricket crisis abroad has reached a record low. A 90-run defeat to West Indies in the first Test at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad, completed on July 28, 2026, has handed the team its eighth consecutive away Test loss, the longest such losing streak in the country’s history, and left it bottom of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 table.
How the match unfolded
West Indies posted 311 in their first innings, built around Shai Hope’s 92, before Pakistan replied with 282, anchored by Shan Masood’s century (109). A collapse in the West Indies second innings, in which Alzarri Joseph top-scored with 38 as Justin Greaves claimed 5 for 27, restricted the hosts to 181, setting Pakistan a target of 211. It should have been gettable. Instead, Pakistan folded to 120 all out, with fast bowler Jayden Seales taking 5 for 20 to seal a 90-run win and hand West Indies an unbeatable 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Seales delivers a career-defining spell
Seales, 21, ripped through the middle order as Pakistan slumped to 71 for 9, before returning to trap Mohammad Abbas lbw in the 41st over and complete his fifth career five-wicket haul in Tests. Only returning captain Babar Azam offered resistance, batting through the collapse for an unbeaten 58 off 107 balls with nine boundaries, a lone rearguard effort that could not prevent the loss. Greaves, who also starred with bat and ball across the match, was named player of the match.
A losing streak eight matches deep
The run of away defeats stretches back to Pakistan’s tour of Australia in December 2023 and has continued through a two-wicket loss in Centurion and a 10-wicket thrashing in Cape Town during the 2024-25 South Africa tour, followed by back-to-back losses in Bangladesh in May 2026 — by 104 runs in Dhaka and 78 runs in Sylhet. Pakistan have not won a single away Test in that span. The Tarouba defeat extends the streak to eight and drops Pakistan to the foot of the WTC 2025-27 standings, having won just one of five Tests played in the cycle for a points percentage of 6.66.
Two views on what’s gone wrong
Former Pakistan players and commentators, cited in reporting from The News and Geo Super, describe the streak as a symptom of deeper structural issues: an over-reliance on spin-friendly conditions at home, thin fast-bowling depth when conditions demand seam and bounce, and instability in team selection and captaincy. Others argue the batting collapse in Tarouba was more about application than talent — Pakistan managed just 120 chasing 211 on a used, but not unplayable, pitch, with only Babar Azam and Abbas (23) offering any resistance. Babar’s own return to the captaincy was meant to stabilise the side; instead it has coincided with the worst overseas run in the team’s history, a fact critics have not let go unremarked even as his personal form with the bat has held up.
What’s next for both sides
West Indies, who have now secured an unbeatable series lead, can afford to experiment in the second Test with the series already won, while Pakistan face the second Test of the tour needing a win simply to avoid a series whitewash and to arrest a run that shows no sign of ending. For Pakistan Cricket Board selectors, the result is likely to intensify scrutiny of the fast-bowling attack and middle-order batting depth ahead of a packed season, while for West Indies — playing under the shadow of tributes to cricketing great Garry Sobers during the match — the win offers a rare marker of progress in a rebuilding Test side. The second and final Test of the series is scheduled to follow in early August 2026, with Pakistan needing a response simply to keep the away-Test drought conversation from growing louder still.