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LAHORE, Pakistan, Wednesday (AFP) Wily Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan snapped up four wickets as his side dominated the first day of the Asian Test championship final at Gaddafi stadium here Wednesday.

At close Sri Lanka were 94-1 with captain Sanath Jayasuriya batting on 47 and Kumar Sangakkara on 39.

Earlier Pakistan were dismissed for 234 with Muralitharan taking 4-55 and pacer Buddhika Fernando chipping in with 3-70.

The visitors looked in masterful form after winning their last eight home Tests and caught the home side napping on a lively track that assisted seam bowlers.

Sri Lanka got off to a sensational start when reliable opener Marvan Atapattu hooked the first delivery from Waqar Younis straight down the fine leg throat where Shoaib Akhtar held an easy catch.

Jayasuriya and Sangakkara cruised along nicely after the early loss and hit 13 boundaries between them against a four-pronged Pakistan pace attack.

It was the first international match in Pakistan since the September 11 attacks on the United States but only 5,000 people turned up to watch the action dominated by the visitors.

Put into bat on a hard track with enough grass to help seamers, Pakistan's opening pair woes continued as both Taufiq Umer and Shahid Afridi returned with only 18 on the board.

Pakistan has tried eight different opening combinations in their last 11 Tests in one year.

Umer failed to keep down a tentative push off Chaminda Vaas and was caught at short leg for six while Shahid Afridi failed to regain his crease after sent back by Younis Khan for nine.

Inzamam-ul Haq and Khan added 86 runs for the third wicket and just when it seemed they would take Pakistan safely to lunch, Sri Lankan bowlers dealt two crucial blows a minute before the interval.

Khan, who hit a century against West Indies in Pakistan's last Test in Sharjah, hit two fours and a six off Muralitharan's third over but was bowled round his legs while attempting a sweep against the off-spinner.

Khan's 46 included eight boundaries and a six.

Haq's poor form continued when he edged Fernando to slip for 29 to leave Pakistan reeling at 108-4 at lunch.

Pakistan's most consistent batsman in the past two years, Haq has scored a poor 183 in the last four Tests.

Another Pakistan mainstay, Yousuf Youhana went soon after lunch when he edged Buddhika Fernando to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara for 6, leaving half the side back for a meager 127.

Allrounder Abdur Razzaq tried to release the pressure hitting four boundaries in the process but he was adjudged leg before when he padded an incoming delivery from Vaas.

Pakistan's tail waged and added 87 for the last four wickets.

Wicketkeeeper Rashid Latif, who made 36, was involved in two fighting stands of 30 with Shoaib Malik for seventh wicket and 40 with skipper Younis for the eighth wicket.

Muralitharan then snatched three wickets off 29 balls to wrap up Pakistan's innings, 45 minutes after tea.

The 21-year-old Fernando, playing his fifth Test, finished with 3-84.

Pakistan won the first Asian Test championship beating Sri Lanka in the final at Dhaka, Bangladesh, by an innings and 175 runs in 1998-99.

Pakistan surprisingly left out experienced off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq from the line-up, including off-spinning allrounder Shoaib Malik with a four-pronged pace attack.

Sri Lanka included three seamers and two spinners.

India, who participated in the first edition, refused to send its team to Pakistan in September last year, saying it would continue to boycott cricket with Pakistan over their Kashmir dispute.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka thrashed Bangladesh in the championship league games last year and decided to abandon the meaningless league game and directly play the final.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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