Amir Jangoo pointed to “unfortunate dismissals” for West Indies not being in an even stronger position than they are in at the end of the first day of their second Test against Pakistan, at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.

But, at the same time, Jangoo, who knows the conditions better than most, having played his domestic cricket for Trinidad & Tobago, feels that if West Indies get to 350 or thereabouts in the first innings, “the wicket will start to deteriorate” and make it tough for Pakistan, who will bat last.

“There were difficult periods in batting. The surfaces are very slow ones. These are surfaces that you can’t really score that quickly on. The Pakistan bowlers, the spinners, they bowled very disciplined as well. But having said that, I think our batters dealt with it really well,” Jangoo said at stumps on a rain-affected first day, which ended with West Indies at 239 for 5.

Jangoo scored 26 as all West Indies batters on display got into double digits even though not many kicked on. The ones who did were Brandon King, who scored 46 in 50 balls opening the innings, and the two unbeaten men in the middle: Justin Greaves on 64 and Roston Chase on 36.

“I think we got a good start with Brandon there at the top of the order. And yeah, just unfortunate we couldn’t kick it on. There was some unfortunate dismissals in there as well,” Jangoo said. “So yeah, it’s all about taking the game deep now. I think it’s a wicket where when you do get in, you have to make it count. So Justin and Chase is in the middle there and, yeah, hopefully they can carry on tomorrow.”

West Indies won the first Test in Tarouba on a pitch where spin played only a peripheral role; all 40 wickets went to the quicks. There, they had put up 311 batting first. Here, they are looking for slightly more and the second day will have to be when they get them.

“It spun a lot today, but I think when you have the new ball in hand, it does the most. So, as you see, when the ball got a bit older later today, it did start to spin less. But having said that, I think probably come down to the end of day three, it [the pitch] will start to break up”

Amir Jangoo

“I don’t really think we have a target in mind, but definitely we need to get over 350 runs batting first on this wicket. I think we’re right on our way there,” Jangoo said. “So it’s all about digging deep and batting for long hours.

“We know that the wicket will start to deteriorate as well, but I think day two should be a really good time to bat on the wicket. So we have to make it count.”

Pakistan left out two medium-pacers, Mohammad Abbas and Aamer Jamal, and brought in the additional spin of Sajid Khan to complement Ali Usman. Shan Masood had to miss out, having picked up an injury in the first Test, and Pakistan brought in two batters, Abdullah Shafique and the debutant Awais Zafar.

The move to add the spinner has already looked like the right call. Two wickets have fallen to spin, Sajid Khan taking out Kavem Hodge and Usman removing King, and the two of them have kept things tight so far.

“My partnership with Sajid went quite well. The pitch wasn’t such that each ball would turn. The ball was turning only once in a way. And when it turns, it’s slow turn, which gives the batters time to adjust,” Usman said. “We tried to bowl at the stumps and keep the scoring down, bowl maiden overs. That’s what both of us tried. Not give them easy runs.

“I was a little unlucky. A lot of balls beat the batters. So I will try to do even better on the second morning and get them out as soon as possible.

“It’s a slow pitch and it will keep getting slower. When we played a warm-up match here, it had become very slow by the fourth day. It’s tough to score runs then. So we need to bat well and take a healthy lead.”

Despite all the focus on spin, Jangoo expected the quicks to prosper with the new ball when Pakistan come out to bat, which should be sometime on day two.

“As you can see, it spun a lot today, but I think when you have the new ball in hand, it does the most,” Jangoo said. “So as you see, when the ball got a bit older later today, it did start to spin less. But having said that, I think probably come down to the end of day three, it [the pitch] will start to break up. So yeah, I have to make this first innings count.”