Sri Lanka put up a decent effort with the bat on day one against Pakistan in the 2nd Test match in Galle on Sunday. After opting to bat first, Sri Lanka reached 315 for 6 at stumps as Oshada Fernando and Dinesh Chandimal hit half-centuries for the hosts. Reporting from Galle
Sri Lanka lost three wickets in the final session to give a slight opening for Pakistan, but the hosts took major honours in Angelo Mathews’ 100th Test appearance.
Except for Kusal Mendis, all the other batters got off to solid starts but none of them hung on to score a big one. Chandimal top-scored with a fine 80, continuing his rich form in 2022.
During the first session, the two openers Oshada Fernando and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne batted with great authority up until the last 20 minutes before Pakistan struck twice to dent Sri Lanka’s start.
Fernando reached his 7th Test half-century through a six, his third in the innings. However, he fell in the very next ball when he nicked behind off left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz to end the 92-run opening stand.
One-drop batter Kusal Mendis, unfortunately, fell short of returning to his crease by a whisker in the non-striker’s end as Salman Ali Agha got a finger to a straight drive off Karunaratne.
After the lunch break, Sri Lanka lost Dimuth Karunaratne for 40 as the southpaw mistimed a reverse-sweep off Yasir Shah and Naseem Shah pouched the catch diving forward at cover point.
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Chandimal, who is averaging well over 100 in Tests this year, joined Mathews when the scores read 120 for 3. They were unfazed by the Pakistani bowlers throughout their 75-run partnership.
Soon after the Tea break, Nauman Ali got one delivery to spin and bounce to take the outside edge of Mathews’ bat as Mohammad Rizwan held onto a smart catch.
Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya De Silva kept the scoreboard moving at a brisk rate. They added 63 off 91 balls for the fifth wicket before Chandimal played one too many shots and gave away his wicket.
As soon as Pakistan took the second new ball, Naseem Shah castled Dhananjaya De Silva for 33 as the visitors took some crucial late blows.
Niroshan Dickwella went after the bowling to rack up some useful runs, especially with the second new ball to remain unbeaten on 42* along with the debutant Dunith Wellalage.
Earlier, before the match commenced, former Sri Lanka seamer Chaminda Vaas presented the 100th Test cap to Mathews. The hosts also handed a Test debut to Dunith Wellalage, who came in place of injured Maheesh Theekshana. Incidentally, all three of them – Vaas, Mathews and Wellalage, are from the same school – St. Joseph’s College, Colombo.
Mathews joined an elite list of Sri Lankan players in Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas to have played 100 or more Tests in history.
Sri Lanka made another change as right-arm seamer Asitha Fernando replaced Kasun Rajitha in the playing XI after the bowling attack failed to defend 342 in the first game.
The visitors, Pakistan were forced to replace left-arm spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi, who sustained a knee injury during the first Test. 35-year-old left-arm spinner Nauman Ali came into the playing XI. The visitors have also dropped their senior batter Azhar Ali to bring in middle order batter Fawad Alam.
Brief Scores:
Sri Lanka – 315/6 (86) Oshada Fernando 50, Dimuth Karunaratne 40, Angelo Mathews 42, Dinesh Chandimal 80, Dhananjaya De Silva 33, Niroshan Dickwella 42*, Mohammad Nawaz 2/71.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oshada Fernando | c Mohammad Rizwan b Mohammad Nawaz | 50 | 70 | 4 | 3 | 71.43 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Naseem Shah b Yasir Shah | 40 | 90 | 3 | 0 | 44.44 |
| Kusal Mendis | run out (Agha Salman) | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 30.00 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Mohammad Rizwan b Nauman Ali | 42 | 106 | 5 | 0 | 39.62 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Fawad Alam b Mohammad Nawaz | 80 | 137 | 9 | 2 | 58.39 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | b Naseem Shah | 33 | 61 | 3 | 1 | 54.10 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | c Mohammad Rizwan b Naseem Shah | 51 | 54 | 6 | 1 | 94.44 |
| Dunith Wellalage | c Babar Azam b Naseem Shah | 11 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 55.00 |
| Ramesh Mendis | b Yasir Shah | 35 | 52 | 4 | 1 | 67.31 |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | lbw b Yasir Shah | 8 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 47.06 |
| Asitha Fernando | not out | 4 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 30.77 |
| Extras | 21 (b 4 , lb 5 , nb 12, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 378/10 (103 Overs, RR: 3.67) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hasan Ali | 17 | 3 | 59 | 0 | 3.47 | |
| Naseem Shah | 18 | 3 | 58 | 3 | 3.22 | |
| Nauman Ali | 21 | 2 | 64 | 1 | 3.05 | |
| Agha Salman | 6 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 4.17 | |
| Mohammad Nawaz | 19 | 3 | 80 | 2 | 4.21 | |
| Yasir Shah | 22 | 2 | 83 | 3 | 3.77 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abdullah Shafique | b Asitha Fernando | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Imam-ul-Haq | b Dhananjaya de Silva | 32 | 54 | 4 | 0 | 59.26 |
| Babar Azam | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 16 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 47.06 |
| Mohammad Rizwan | lbw b Ramesh Mendis | 24 | 35 | 3 | 0 | 68.57 |
| Fawad Alam | lbw b Ramesh Mendis | 24 | 69 | 1 | 0 | 34.78 |
| Agha Salman | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Prabath Jayasuriya | 62 | 126 | 4 | 1 | 49.21 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | c Niroshan Dickwella b Ramesh Mendis | 12 | 37 | 1 | 0 | 32.43 |
| Yasir Shah | lbw b Ramesh Mendis | 26 | 97 | 0 | 1 | 26.80 |
| Hasan Ali | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 21 | 54 | 0 | 1 | 38.89 |
| Nauman Ali | c Niroshan Dickwella b Ramesh Mendis | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 9.09 |
| Naseem Shah | not out | 4 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 4 , lb 5 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 231/10 (88.1 Overs, RR: 2.62) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 20 | 2 | 63 | 1 | 3.15 | |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 37 | 10 | 80 | 3 | 2.16 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 21.1 | 6 | 47 | 5 | 2.23 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 4 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 3.75 | |
| Dunith Wellalage | 6 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 3.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niroshan Dickwella | c Mohammad Rizwan b Naseem Shah | 15 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Oshada Fernando | lbw b Yasir Shah | 19 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 79.17 |
| Kusal Mendis | lbw b Mohammad Nawaz | 15 | 30 | 2 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Babar Azam b Agha Salman | 35 | 62 | 4 | 1 | 56.45 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Mohammad Rizwan b Naseem Shah | 21 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 36.21 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Abdullah Shafique b Nauman Ali | 61 | 105 | 3 | 0 | 58.10 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | run out (Yasir Shah) | 109 | 171 | 16 | 0 | 63.74 |
| Dunith Wellalage | c Mohammad Rizwan b Mohammad Nawaz | 18 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Ramesh Mendis | not out | 45 | 54 | 4 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Extras | 22 (b 13 , lb 3 , nb 5, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 360/8 (91.5 Overs, RR: 3.92) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hasan Ali | 10 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 4.40 | |
| Naseem Shah | 12.5 | 1 | 44 | 2 | 3.52 | |
| Yasir Shah | 21 | 2 | 80 | 1 | 3.81 | |
| Mohammad Nawaz | 21 | 4 | 75 | 2 | 3.57 | |
| Nauman Ali | 14 | 0 | 54 | 1 | 3.86 | |
| Agha Salman | 12 | 2 | 41 | 1 | 3.42 | |
| Babar Azam | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abdullah Shafique | c Dunith Wellalage b Prabath Jayasuriya | 16 | 51 | 3 | 0 | 31.37 |
| Imam-ul-Haq | c Niroshan Dickwella b Ramesh Mendis | 49 | 90 | 4 | 0 | 54.44 |
| Babar Azam | lbw b Prabath Jayasuriya | 81 | 146 | 6 | 1 | 55.48 |
| Mohammad Rizwan | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 37 | 69 | 6 | 0 | 53.62 |
| Fawad Alam | run out (Niroshan Dickwella) | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 11.11 |
| Agha Salman | c Kusal Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | c Dinesh Chandimal b Ramesh Mendis | 12 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 41.38 |
| Yasir Shah | c Kusal Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya | 27 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 108.00 |
| Hasan Ali | b Ramesh Mendis | 11 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 110.00 |
| Nauman Ali | not out | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Naseem Shah | c Dunith Wellalage b Ramesh Mendis | 18 | 21 | 1 | 2 | 85.71 |
| Extras | 5 (b 2 , lb 0 , nb 3, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 261/10 (77 Overs, RR: 3.39) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 6 | 1 | 20 | 0 | 3.33 | |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 32 | 5 | 117 | 5 | 3.66 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 30 | 7 | 101 | 4 | 3.37 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2.00 | |
| Dunith Wellalage | 7 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 2.43 | |
