Tag: Paksitan tour of Sri Lanka

GALLE: Pakistan struck with five crucial wickets to derail Sri Lanka’s ascension in the second Test while the home team maintained a commanding lead of 323 runs over the visitors in the second innings on the third day, here on Tuesday. 

Pakistan bowlers rebounded in the second and the final sessions of the day to reduce the hosts to 176/5 before umpires called it a day due to bad light.

Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and all-rounder Dhanjaya De Silva anchored the Sri Lankan innings in the last session after they were struggling at 117/5 following Dinesh Chandimal’s departure.

The pair cemented their position on the crease with a valiant sixth-wicket partnership of 59 runs and remained firm on the respective scores of 27 and 30, till the end of the day’s play.

Sri Lanka, however,  underwent a dismal start to their second inning as they lost both of their openers on a mere 47-run total.

Naseem Shah had the first breakthrough for Pakistan as he dismissed wicket-keeper batter Niroshan Dickwella on 15 while Osahada Fernando fell prey to Yasir Shah after he scored 19 runs.

Kusal Mendis followed the suit and went back to the pavilion after his 30-ball knock of 15 runs as left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz removed him in a leg-before wicket.

All-rounder Agha Salman, however, got rid of strong-looking Angelo Mathew on 35 after he raised a 41-run fifth-wicket partnership along with Dinesh Chadimal.

Naseem grabbed his second wicket when he dismissed in-form Chadimal in a caught-behind wicket to end his 21-run knock.

On the hand, Yasir, Salman and Nawaz struck out a batter each.

Earlier, in the first session, spinner Ramesh Mendis completed a five-wicket haul while Prabath Jayasuriya bagged three as Sri Lanka bowled out Pakistan for 231 in the first innings to bolster their position in the second Test.

Pakistan tail enders Yasir Shah and Hasan Ali put up a brief resistance to move the total to  223 from the overnight score of 191 before Sri Lankan spinners rebounded and picked three back-to-back wickets for just 8 more runs.

Yasir and Hasan managed an eighth-wicket partnership of 32 runs before Jayasuriya knocked down the latter on 21 runs to force the tail-enders to collapse.

Ramesh then sent Nauman Ali and Yasir back to the pavilion to pack up Pakistan’s innings with his third five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

The leg-spinner played a defiant knock of 97 balls for 26 runs before Ramesh removed him in a leg-before wicket.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan have a 1-0 lead in the series as they defeated the home side by four wickets in the first Test.

READ: Alcaraz becomes youngest player in ATP top 5 since Nadal

COLOMBO: Opener Abdullah Shafique starred with the bat on the final day as Pakistan’s three-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka Xl ended on a draw, here on Wednesday.

Abdullah scored a magnificent 63 runs including five boundaries and two sixes before getting retired hurt. Whereas, Azhar Ali chipped in with 40, as Pakistan finished on 178/2 in their second innings.

Opener Imam ul Haq combined excellently with Abdullah to raise an opening stand of 61 runs before Imam was sent back to the pavilion on 30.

Fawad Alam fell cheaply on 6 before Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz remained firm on the crease till the end of the day’s play on 21 and 13, respectively.

For Sri Lanka Xl, Lasith Embuldeniya and Lakshitha Manasinghe made a scalp each.

Earlier, Sri Lanka Xl resumed with the overnight score of 278/5 at the onset of the final day’s play and gained a 52-runs lead before declaring their inning on 375/8.

Sadeera Samarawickrama remained the top-scorer of the match with his blistering knock of 91 while Nuwanidu Fernando and Nishan Madushka scored the fifties to frustrate Pakistan bowlers.

For Pakistan, Nawaz grabbed two wickets while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hassan Ali, Naseem Shah, Agha Salman, Yasir Shah and Faheem Ashraf claimed wicket apiece.

Pakistan are set to lock horns against the hosts Sri Lanka for the two-match Test series with the first Test scheduled from July 16 to 20 at Galle.

READ: Germany Women thump Spain 2-0 to reach quarter-finals of Euro 2022

LAHORE: Pakistan all-format skipper and currently top-ranked T20I and ODI batter Babar Azam has expressed his urge to lead the rankings across every format by improving his standings in Test cricket as well. 

Speaking at a scheduled press conference held here at Gaddafi Stadium ahead of the national team’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, the skipper stated that he was trying to accentuate his rankings in the red-ball format through his performance.

The skipper also revealed his plans for participation in Australia’s Big Bash League and made it clear that he would only think about franchise cricket after fulfilling his national duty.

“Currently, we have enough cricket of our own. I will think about Big Bash or other events only if I get the spare time” he said.

Talking about the team’s preparation for the upcoming overseas task, Babar revealed that the team combination and playing strategy would be devised only after observing the conditions in Sri Lanka while he hailed all-rounder Faheem Ashraf for playing a vital role in the team combination.

“Faheem is our key all-rounder and we get a perfect team combination due to his presence” he maintained.

“We will observe the conditions once we reach Sri Lanka and then construct the best possible team combination,” he said. “The weather of any place is not in our hands. We try our best to play according to the conditions.”

Opining on Yasir Shah’s return to the Test squad, Babar credited the leg-spinner for strengthening the team’s spin bowling attack while he claimed that Sajid Shah had been given time to work on his bowling action.

“Our spin bowling attack is strong and Yasir Shah’s return has further strengthened the attack,” he said. “We have complete confidence in our fast bowling as well.”

It is worth mentioning here that Pakistan will tour Sri Lanka to play a two-match Test series, scheduled from July 16 to July 28.

READ: ‘Sethi held meetings with me for the captaincy offer in 2015’ Ahmed claims