Sandwiched in between Curtley Ambrose and Michael Holding, above Courtney Walsh and only bettered by Lance Gibbs, Colin Croft and Jack Noreiga is a good place to be no matter the context.

It puts in perspective the achievement of Devendra Bishoo on day four of the first Test between Pakistan and the West Indies, the leg-spinner now fifth on the list of the best Test figures for a West Indian.

His 8-49 brought about a Pakistan collapse that put his team in a position from which they stand a chance of winning this Test match, something any observer of the first three days would have laughed at prior to Sunday’s play.

Bishoo’s efforts were aided by some woeful Pakistan batting but the bowler’s more aggressive line on a pitch finally taking spin brought just reward.

“I’m delighted right now that I got 8-49, I’m so happy,” said Bishoo. “I don’t have words to explain it, I’m really, really happy and more happy for the position we put ourselves in this Test, where we can win it.

“I was thinking about this last evening, about the way I bowled in the first innings and watching a few clips. I was bowling a more fourth or fifth stump [line] and they were cutting the ball down all the time.

“I tried to bowl more straight and on the stump. I used the rough a little and I tried to use the crease a bit more and bowl at the stumps.”

It was certainly a day the legspinners would remember fondly, Yasir Shah completing a seventh Test five-for of his career en route to becoming the joint second fastest bowler to 100 Test wickets.

For the batsmen, however, it was a day to forget and Pakistan’s loss of eight wickets for 46 runs was something of great frustration for coach Mickey Arthur.

“I’m not going to take anything away from the way Bishoo bowled because I think he bowled really, really well, but I thought we gave him eight soft wickets,” said Arthur. “That’s not how we want to play the game. We worked so hard to get ourselves in front of the game and then in one session we lost six for 11 and that gave them a sniff.

“We want to be better than that. We want to be a team that closes opposition out when we get an opportunity and we didn’t.”