Saud Shakeel misses century as Pakistan declare at 434; Kamindu Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva lead Sri Lanka’s fightback
Pakistan strengthened their grip on the opening Test against Sri Lanka, declaring their first innings at 434 for nine before reducing the visitors to 114 for three at stumps on the second day at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka, who elected to field after winning the toss, now face a challenging task, trailing Pakistan by 320 runs with seven first-innings wickets remaining.
Resuming the day at 281 for five, Pakistan continued to build on their strong overnight position, adding another 153 runs before declaring in 106.3 overs.
Overnight unbeaten batter Saud Shakeel came agonisingly close to a century, scoring 93 off 199 deliveries, including nine boundaries. He received valuable support from wicketkeeper-batter Ghazi Ghori, who contributed 48, with the pair adding 96 runs for the sixth wicket.
Test debutant Arafat Minhas also impressed with a confident 52 off 72 deliveries, including nine fours and a six. His half-century further strengthened Pakistan’s position after Tayyab Arif (57), Mohammad Taha (51) and former captain Babar Azam (50) had also made significant contributions.
For Sri Lanka, fast bowlers Asitha Fernando and Dilshan Madushanka claimed three wickets each. Fernando also reached a significant personal milestone, becoming the sixth Sri Lankan fast bowler to capture 100 Test wickets.
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Sri Lanka’s reply got off to a disastrous start when Pasindu Sooriyabandara was dismissed for a duck by Mohammad Abbas. Debutant Saqib Khan then struck twice, removing Dinesh Chandimal for one and Lahiru Udara for 42.
However, experienced campaigners Kamindu Mendis and captain Dhananjaya de Silva provided some resistance, putting together an unbeaten 49-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Kamindu was unbeaten on 40, while Dhananjaya had made 22 when bad light forced an early close to proceedings.
Sri Lanka will need a substantial partnership from the two overnight batters on Wednesday to reduce the deficit and prevent Pakistan from taking a commanding first-innings lead.
Scores:
Pakistan 434/9 declared (106.3 overs)
Sri Lanka 114/3 (27.1 overs)
Sri Lanka trail by 320 runs.
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