Saud Shakeel and Agha Salman put together 120 unbeaten runs for the 6th wicket as Pakistan finished day 2 of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka trailing by 91 runs.
The pair came together with the visitors in dire straights at 101/5, but looked in complete control through their partnership, putting Pakistan in a strong position going into day 3.
Shakeel and Salman displayed an immense amount of control in their strokes, particularly coming up against Prabath Jayasuriya. What was most impressive was that they scored their runs quickly, not getting bogged down at any given time.
Earlier in the day, Dhananjaya de Silva continued his good form against Pakistan, going to his 3rd century against them early in the 1st session, as Sri Lanka finished with 312 in their 1st innings.
De Silva received good support from Ramesh Mendis, but the bowling all-rounder eventually fell to a loose shot, chasing one wide outside the off stump to give the visitors the breakthrough they wanted. Mendis’ dismissal with the score on 257 meant that Sri Lanka had to more or less put away their hopes of getting beyond 350.
However, the Sri Lankan tail did not fold as easily as they would have expected, with Prabath Jayasuriya sticking with de Silva for a further 46 mins to frustrate the Pakistan attack.
The new ball ultimately did the trick as Naseem Shah picked up Jayasuriya and more importantly de Silva before Sri Lanka’s quicks Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha put on a crucial 29-run partnership for the last wicket. Fernando, coming in at No. 11, did the bulk of the scoring between the pair, finishing on 21 not out off 28 deliveries.
Sri Lanka thought they had Abdullah Shafique in the 1st over of Pakistan’s reply but the decision was overturned on review, to the disbelief of bowler Vishwa Fernando. His partner Kasun Rajitha struck in the next over to remove Imam Ul Haq.
Shafique and Shan Masood steadied things with a 48-run partnership, Masood scoring at better than a run a ball. However, the arrival of Prabath Jayasuriya saw Shafique caught brilliantly at slip. That started the slide for the visitors, with the next 3 wickets – Masood, Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Ahmed- falling for just 34 runs.
At that point, Sri Lanka would have fancied their chances of bowling the Pakistanis out for less than 200, but good batting conditions and sensible batting saw Shakeel and Salman through to the end of the day.
Despite the early start, numerous rain interruptions saw 24 overs lost in the day once again. Play is scheduled to start at 9.45am local time tomorrow, with 98 set to be bowled.
