By Waheed Khan

MULTAN, Nov 19 (Reuters) Pakistan continued to build on a solid start to the second test against West Indies today the home side reaching the tea interval on 187 for two and looking poised to post a big first innings total.

Younis Khan (48) and Mohammad Yousuf (25) had put on 62 from 115 balls for the third wicket after opener Imran Farhat was dismissed for 74 on a docile pitch where the bowlers had to work hard just to keep the scoring in check.

Despite showers delaying play for around 12 minutes, Pakistan made steady progress from their lunch interval score of 109-1 with Younis and Yousuf in ominous form.

Farhat, who registered his ninth test fifty, was dismissed chasing a wide ball from Dwayne Bravo with Brian Lara taking a sharp chance at second slip.

His knock spanned 158 balls with 10 boundaries and set the pace for the innings with Yousuf, who made 192 in the first test victory, striking the ball with precision and fluency.

Having already hit six centuries this year, Yousuf has accumulated over 1,300 runs since January.

Yousuf and Younis, who has hit five fours, took advantage of a solid foundation laid by Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez (36) who put on 83 runs.

Hafeez was caught behind off Jerome Taylor when he nicked a wide ball to wicketkeeper Danesh Ramdin after hitting seven fours in his 66 balls knock.

Corey Collymore remaining wicketless despite beating the bat consistently in economical spells of 16-5-23-0, while Chris Gayle also sent down 14 overs conceding 33 runs.

Pakistan named an unchanged side from the one that eased to a nine-wicket victory in Lahore for a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, while West Indies dropped experienced batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan and seamer Fidel Edwards for Powell and Runako Morton.

Meanwhile, Shivnarine Chanderpaul became the eighth West Indian to make a 100 test appearances.

REUTERS SAM HT1618