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Younis, Malik play rescue act for Pakistan

Skipper Younis Khan led from the front with a stubborn unbeaten century as Pakistan fought back well to reach a healthy 296 for 3 in their first innings on the third day of the opening cricket Test match against Sri Lanka continued at the National Stadium in Karachi yesterday.

The 31 year old right hander from Peshawar leading the side for the first time gave the Lankans the taste of their own medicine by hammering an unbeaten 149 while occupying the crease throughout the day.

This means that Pakistan have batted themselves in to a position of safety as they are trailing by 348 runs and only 148 runs required to avert the follow on. This was a tremendous effort from the Pakistan captain considering the amount of pressure and the opposition he was up against.

The conditions of course still favour the batsmen but still it needed some real courage and determination to overcome this tough situation against two quality spinners. Younis Khan was prepared to take up the challenge as he toiled hard under hot conditions to put his team in a safe position.

Younis Khan batted with a great amount of confidence and busy out in the middle where he collected his runs from all areas of the wicket. He executed three elegant cover drives off Chaminda Vaas and another square drive against Dilhara Fernando during the opening session.

However Younis Khan was very cautious against the spinners although he did make certain that the loose deliveries are put away to the boundary with a minimum effort. His third wicket partnership with former captain Shoaib Malik certainly brought them back into the game and provided hopes of forcing a draw.

Khan reached his 16th Test hundred from 191 deliveries with the help of eleven boundaries. He was of course earlier dropped by Tillekeratne Dilshan from the bowling of Ajantha Mendis.

Even then Pakistan decided to progress slowly as they had to chase a mountain of runs although the Sri Lankan bowlers flourished under lack of pressure during the first session which saw only 79 runs been scored for the loss of one wicket.

In fact Pakistan were crawling at the beginning as 22 runs came in the initial 10 overs and another 26 runs in the second 10 overs. However Younis Khan increased the momentum after the break to ensure that the day did not entirely belong to the visitors.

The Lankans of course maintained a tight line and length with some disciplined and crafty bowling on a flat track.

Muttiah Muralitharan tried his off breaks and doosras at different speeds while creating panic among the Pakistani batsmen.

Mendis too put aside his dismal record in the recent home one day international series against India to harass the batsmen and created several anxious moments to the home side.

In fact he came very close of removing Younis Khan with an off break but the confident appeal was turned down.

Mendis also should have captured the wicket of Shoaib Malik on 15 but wicket keeper Prasanna Jayawardena could not hold on to a tough chance behind the stumps. Malik was eventually run out for a well compiled 56 which was studded with seven boundaries.

Mendis and Jayawardena had earlier combined quite successfully to remove the debutant Khurram Manzoor in a similar manner.

Manzoor of course did not read the spinners well at all and continued to struggle before he departed after a stubborn 27 having occupied the crease for 145 minutes stroking three boundaries.

SRI LANKA 1st innings 644-7 declared 
(M. Jayawardene 240, T. Samaraweera 231)

PAKISTAN 1st innings (overnight 44-1)

Khurram Manzoor c P. Jayawardene b Mendis	 27
Salman Butt c M. Jayawardene b Muralitharan	 23
Younus Khan not out				149
Shoaib Malik run out				 56
Misbah-ul-Haq not out				 20 

EXTRAS: (b4, lb2, nb14, w1)			 21
TOTAL: (for three wkts)				296

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-44 (Butt), 2-78 (Manzoor), 3-227 (Malik).
BOWLING: Vaas 20-4-41-0 (5nb), Fernando 22-1-75-0 (6nb, 1w), Mendis 35-9-78-1 (3nb), Muralitharan 34-7-92-1, Dilshan 1-0-4-0.

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