Pradeep, Prasad shine as Sri Lanka grab honoursSri Lanka – Pakistan 3rd Test Match
Pacies Nuwan Pradeep and Dhammika Prasad shone as Sri Lanka grabbed honours on day two of the third and the final Test match played at the Pallekele International Stadium. The duo along with Tharindu Kaushal, who grabbed two wickets, made Pakistan struggle as the visitors ended day two on 209 for 9 before bad light stopped play. This was in reply to Sri Lanka’s total of 278.
Nuwan Pradeep bowled effectively
This was despite half tons coming from second Test match centurion Azhar Ali and Shehzad Ahmed who were the two batsmen to make any impression in the Pakistan innings. It was Prasad who has had a successful series who made the early breakthrough by separating the openers Shan Masood and Ahmed Shehzad who both were making steady progress.
Prasad trapped Masood with Pakistan’s score on 32 and eight runs later Pradeep struck when he got rid of Ahmed, who nicked a catch to wicket keeper Dinesh Chandimal. Thereafter Younis Khan, who has not been able to make any impression during this tour, struggled again as his unsuccessful run in the series continued.
Having plodded for 24 balls his innings came to end going for a cheeky run but could not beat the direct throw from midwicket by Kaushal Silva. Pakistan went into the lunch break badly placed on 45 for 3.Azhar Ali along with Asad Shafiq gave the Pakistanis some hope as the duo denied success for the Sri Lanka bowlers for some time.
Dhammika Prasad is coming of age - Pix by Shantha Ratnayake
But when they seemed to be settling down Prasad struck again as he trapped Shafiq who made an unsuccessful reference to the third umpire. The pair added 46 valuable runs for the fourth but even then Pakistan was not out of the woods. Ali joined by Shehzad Ahmed added a further 44 runs for the fifth wicket before Ali fell victim to Pradeep having made a 96 ball knock of 52 that included eight boundaries.
Ahmed was the only batsman to put in some resistance as he was forced to watch losing his partners at the other end. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq lasted only 17 balls for his six runs while Ehsan Adil was trapped by Tharindu Kaushal for a duck. Ahmed and Yasir Shah put on a valuable 45 runs for the eighth wicket before they were separated by Prasad while Kaushal got rid of Rahat Ali. Ahmed remained unbeaten on 72 made in 94 balls that included six boundaries.
The morning session of proceedings saw Sri Lanka resuming their innings from their overnight score of 272 for 8 lasting only 3.5 overs. The hosts were able to add only six more runs and were bowled out for 278. Right-arm spinner Yashir Shah continued to torment the Sri Lanka batsmen. He bagged the last Lankan wicket, that of Nuwan Pradeep to end with another five-wicket haul which also saw him take his wicket tally in the three match series so far to 22.