Chandimal shines on bowlers’ day
Pakistan had only themselves to blame for their current predicament as they came out with a clear intention of batting out the remaining overs rather than playing positive cricket. They scored 24 runs off 18 overs scoring at 1.33 per an over, losing both their openers, trying to defend.
Imam-ul-Haq (2) and Abdullah Shafique (13) were both trapped leg before by seamer Kasun Rajith and left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya. At stumps are Azar Ali and Barbar Azam who will look to rebuild the innings, when the second day’s play begins this morning.
Earlier batter Dinesh Chandimal and Sri Lanka’s tail injected some decency into their innings after Pakistan bowlers blasted through Sri Lanka’s top and middle order.
Chandimal stood firm and batted with great control and authority for his 76, his 22nd half century, while Maheesh Theekshana, playing only his second game, provided stubborn resistance. He made the team’s second highest score of 38 before Sri Lanka were bowled out for 222.
Four wickets fell in the morning session and four in the second session as Sri Lanka were reeling at 133 for 8 at one stage. But they scored 89 runs for the last two wickets.
Chandimal, who hit a double century in the previous game—his first (206 not out), that helped Sri Lanka crush Australia by an innings to level the two-match series 1-1–continued from where he left off. He shared 44 runs for the ninth wicket before Yasir Shah held onto a blinder to send him back in the dressing room off Hasan Ali.
Chandimal leaned back and hammered it but Shah at covers dived full length to his right and held on, ending another special innings.
With 23 runs still needed to go past the 200 run mark, Sri Lanka were in serious trouble. But Theekshana and Kasun Rajitha added 45 runs for the last wicket as Sri Lanka went past the 200 run mark. Theekshana, who made his debut only last week, hit four boundaries and a six in his 65-ball innings while Rajitha remained unbeaten on 12.
Sri Lanka’s top order that includes Oshada Fernando, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, and Angelo Mathews perished as soon as Pakistan bowlers made early inroads to put Sri Lanka, batting first, in the back seat.
Fernando and Mendis had a brief partnership of 49 for the second wicket, incidentally the best in the entire inning, as they looked to rebuild the innings after the skipper went cheaply.
But Yasir Shah, who is making a comeback to the team after a thumb injury, struck, removing Mendis for 21. Kusal was caught Kusal was caught behind and Fernando soon followed in the next over when pace bowler Hasan Ali had Fernando caught behind. Mathews fell for a 15-ball duck off Shah, caught at mid-on
Shaheen struck twice after lunch removing Dhananjaya de Silva and Niroshan Dickwella and once after tea while fellow quick Naseem Shah and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz took a wicket each to end Sri Lanka’s first innings.
| SCORECARD | |
| Sri Lanka (1st innings) Oshada Fernando c Rizwan b Ali 35 (Full delivery, outside off, tempting batsman to play, finds a nick to the wicketkeeper) Dimuth Karunaratne b Afridi…….. 01 Lands outside off, comes forward to play, but defends, finds thick inside edge to knock the off peg) Kusal Mendis c Rizwan b Y. Shah 21 (Full length outside off, attempts to cut, ball skids and finds the wicketkeeper’s gloves after a thick bottom edge) Angelo Mathews N. Shah b Y. Shah 00 (Length ball in the middle, tries to go over, mistimes and caught at mid-on) Dinesh Chandimal c Y. Shah b Ali 76 (Full, outside off, leans back and crunches towards cover to be caught) Dhananjaya de Silva b Afridi…… 14 (Full outside off, plays a bit loose, finds thick inside edge to be pitches on the off bowled clean) Niroshan Dickwella c Salman b Afridi 04 (Pitches on the off tempting batsman to drive, yet finds a thick outside edge, to be caught at slip) Ramesh Mendis c Rizwan b N. Shah 11 (Misdirected short ball down legside, hooks and be caught by the speaker) Prabath Jayasuriya lbw b Mawaz 03 (Length ball on the middle, pushes forward, misses completely) Maheesh Theekshana c Rizwn, b Afridi 38 (Short delivery, attempts to uppercut, keeper takes a superb catch) Kasun Rajitha not out……………… 12 Extras (b1, lb3, nb 3)……………….. 12 Total (all out: 66.1 overs)………. 222 Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Karunaratne, 2.6ov). 2-60 K. Mendis, 14.5ov), 3-60 (Feranaod, 15.1ov), 4-68 (Mathews, 205ov), 5-99 (De Silva, 29.3ov), 6-103 (Dickwella, 31.1ov), 7-130 (R. Mendis, 42.3ov), 8-133 (Jayasuriya, 43.6ov), 9-177 (Chandimal, 54.5ov), 10-222 (Theekshana, 66.ov) Bowling: Shaheen Shah Afridi 14.1-3-58-4, Hasan Ali 12-2-23-2, Nazeem Shah 13-0-53-1, Yasir Shah 21-4-66-2, Mohammed Nawaz 6-2-18-1 Pakistan (1st Innings) Abdullah Shafique lbw b Jayasuriya 13 (Arm ball that drifted in and skidded on, played outside the line and struck plumb) Imam-ul-Haq lbw b Rajitha………. 02 (Length ball outside off, turned back sharply, misses the bat and strikes the pad, given out, reviewed by batsman, turned down) Azhar Ali not out……………………… 03 Babar Azam not out…………………. 01 Extras (w5)…………………………….. 05 Total (2 wickets; 18 overs)………. 24 Yet to bat: Mohammed Rizwan, Agha Salman, Mohammed Nawaz, Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Haq, 6.2ov), 2-21 (Shafique, 4.5ov) Bowling: Kasun Rajitha 5-2-11-1, Maheesh Theekshana 9-4-11-0, Prabath Jayasuriya 4-3-2-1 |