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| Monday, 25 October 2004 |
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Lanka complete crushing win over Pakistan Sri Lanka completed a comprehensive 201 runs victory over Pakistan shortly after lunch on the fifth and final day of the Paktel GSM Cup first test match at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad here on Sunday. Pakistan were dismissed for 216 runs in their second innings with Rangana Herath and Dilhara Fernando capturing four wickets each. Their victory was always there from the moment they reduced the home side to 91 for 4 in the second innings on the fourth day after setting an impossible target of 418 runs.
The only resistance of course came from the bat of Shoaib Malik who batted with a real purpose to delay Sri Lanka's victory. The overnight pair of Malik and Youhanna batted more sensibly throughout the first one hour of play and looked like taking Pakistan towards safety. However left arm spinner Rangana Herath got the much needed break through for Sri Lanka by trapping Yousuf Youhanna in the 58th over of the innings. Herath was rewarded for some very good bowling where he had the batsmen guessing all the time with a variety of deliveries. Youhanna's fighting knock of 44 was studded with seven boundaries and came in 150 minutes of batting time. Herath dismissed Abdul Razzaq with a similar delivery in the first ball of the next over and was on a hattrick at that stage. Skipper Marvan Atapattu decided to attack from the beginning and did not mind conceding few extra runs. Dilhara Fernando who rocked the Pakistanis on the fourth day with a hostile spell failed to make an impact and finished with four for 77. But the experienced Chaminda Vaas brought Sri Lanka much closer towards victory by getting rid off Moin Khan shortly before lunch. The Pakistan wicket keeper played a casual shot while hanging his bat and Romesh Kaluwitharana did the rest behind the wicket. Youhanna and Malik brought some respectability to Pakistan's total while adding 63 runs for the fifth wicket in 133 minutes and 205 deliveries. Skipper Marvan Atapattu said that he is pleased to have won the first test and take an early lead in the series. He said that in this match Sri Lanka have proved that they could bat even better in the second innings unlike on the previous occasions. Sri Lanka tend to collapse in the second innings when they are under pressure but this time team have really put their heads down and played some good cricket throughout the five days. After being bowled out for 243 in the first innings they batted for 109.2 overs in the second innings before making a massive second innings total of 438. Atapattu said that this is only the start of his career as captain of the Sri Lanka team and a good morale booster ahead of the remaining games. He said that winning in Pakistan is a good thing and now they could look to extend their winning record while performing in some of the other countries too. He said that he was quite confident of winning the test after building up an overall lead of over 400 runs. This was also Sri Lanka's sixth test win out of nine matches in Pakistan. Winning in the sub continent is always good and this could be a launching pad for them to extend their dominance against some of the other countries. He said that the team fought back magnificently and also praised the efforts of Jayasuriya, Samaraweera and Dilhara Fernando. But it was left arm spinner Rangana Herath who added the finishing touches with a four wicket haul which is easily his best effort in a test match. Atapattu said that the Lankans have maintained a fantastic record in the past few months and he is determined to continue with the good work. He said that Pakistan could always bounce back and will not be taking any chances when the second test begins on Thursday at the National Stadium in Karachi.Atapattu also said that Sri Lanka have proved that they could win matches without Muralitharan and they could be a major force once the off spinner returned back to the side. Meanwhile man of the match Sanath Jayasuriya said that he is more than happy to get a double hundred at this ground which set the pace for Sri Lanka's crushing victory. He said he was really determined to make amends after being dismissed cheaply in the first innings. The dashing left hander said that batting at the beginning was very difficult especially with Shoaib Akhtar was bowling at his peak. Jayasuriya said that he really had to work hard for the runs and to reach the first one hundred runs. He said that batting became much easier on the fourth day and that helped him to play his normal attacking shots. Jayasuriya made a trail blazing 253 from 490 minutes with four sixes and 33 boundaries. Jayasuriya said that batting with a tailender like Dilhara Fernando was a new experience for him as they put on a record 101 runs for the ninth wicket. He said that he had to provide a word of encouragement for Fernando after every over and successfully negotiated the hostile Pakistani pace attack. SRI LANKA -1ST INNINGS 243 (T. Samaraweera 100; S. Akhtar 5-60, M. Sami 4-71) PAKISTAN -1ST INNINGS 264 (Y. Hameed 58; R. Herath 3-68) SRI LANKA -2ND INNINGS 438 (S. Jayasuriya 253, K. Sangakkara 59, M. Jayawardene 57; D. Kaneria 4-117) PAKISTAN -2ND INNINGS Yasir Hameed lbw Fernando 17 Imran Farhat lbw Fernando 53 Asim Kamal b Fernando 1 Inzamam-ul-Haq b Fernando 3 Yousuf Youhana lbw Herath 44 Shoaib Malik c and b Herath 59 Abdul Razzaq lbw Herath 0 Moin Khan c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 1 Mohammad Sami run out 6 Shoaib Akhtar s Kaluwitharana b Herath 12 Danish Kaneria not out 0 Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-6, nb-9) 20 TOTAL (all out in 79.2 overs) 216 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-59 2-65 3-86 4-91 5-154 6-158 7-159 8-187 9-215. BOWLING: Chaminda Vaas 16-4-54-1 (1-nb, 5-w), Lasith Malinga 6-2-13-0 (2-nb), Rangana Herath 32.2-10-64-4, Dilhara Fernando 20-3-77-4 (1-w, 6-nb), Sanath Jayasuriya 4-2-2-0, Jehan Mubarak 1-0-1-0. Result: Sri Lanka won by 201 runs Second test at Karachi from Oct 28. |
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