Lanka gain upper hand
Sri Lanka removed Pakistan’s openers early to gain an upper hand on
the second day of the third and final cricket Test against Pakistan at
Sharjah stadium here on Friday.
Sri Lanka, seeking a series-levelling win after losing the second
Test by nine wickets in Dubai, removed Mohammad Hafeez (six) and Taufiq
Umar (19) as Pakistan closed on 35-2 in reply to their rivals’ first
innings total of 413.
The first Test in Abu Dhabi ended in a draw.
Pakistan looked shaky from the start as Hafeez was dismissed in the
fifth over of the innings, edging an outgoing delivery from left-arm
paceman Chanaka Welegedara to slip for Mahela Jayawardene to take a
simple catch.
Left-arm spinner Rangana then struck in his third over, inducing Umar
to come out of the crease and had him stumped by wicket-keeper Kaushal
Silva, much to the disappointment of a holiday crowd of near 8,000 made
up of Pakistan expats.
At close, Azhar was unbeaten on ten and Younis Khan yet to get off
the mark, as Pakistan still trail by 378 runs.
Earlier, Saeed Ajmal led Pakistan’s fightback with 4-132 after Sri
Lanka, well placed at 300-3, lost five wickets in the space of 59 runs
before they were guided past 400 by a ninth wicket stand of 54 between
Silva (39) and Herath 34 not out.
Umar Gul ably supported Ajmal with 3-76, but late additions to the
Sri Lankan total frustrated Pakistan who had the upper hand in the first
two sessions.
Pakistan knew they had to remove Sangakkara to make inroads into the
Sri Lankan middle-order after they dismissed Angelo Mathews for 17 in
the last over before lunch, caught behind off left-arm spinner Abdul
Rehman.
It was Ajmal who finally provided Pakistan with the prized wicket of
the stylish left-hander when his delivery jumped on Sangakkara, who
failed to keep a pull down and was caught in the slip by Younis Khan
after making 144.
Sangakkara, who also crossed 9,000 Test runs during the innings,
showed pleasure at helping the team. “It’s pretty encouraging to know
that I crossed the 9,000 runs,” said Sangakkara, only the second Sri
Lankan behind Jayawardene to reach the milestone. “My job is to keep
scoring runs and every Test is a new challenge.”
Sangakkara hit 13 fours and two sixes during his 344-ball knock,
which began in the first over of the match on Thursday. This was his
second century of the series following an epic match-saving 211 in Abu
Dhabi.
Sangakkara put on 84 for the third wicket with Jayawardene (39) and
another 39 with Mathews for the fourth after Sri Lanka resumed at 245-2.
Jayawardene managed to add just seven to his overnight score of 32
before being given leg-before off paceman Khan. Jayawardene hit two
boundaries during his highest score of the series.
Sangakkara and Mathews negotiated Pakistan’s pace-spin attack with
confidence, taking Sri Lanka past the 300-mark in the penultimate over
before lunch.
But Pakistan struck in the last over before lunch as they got the
second wicket in the session, with Sri Lanka managing 55 runs in two
hours.
Ajmal also dismissed debutant Kosala Kulasekara, leg-before wicket
for 15, while Gul struck to remove Suraj Randiv for one.
Ajmal finally broke the ninth wicket stand by dismissing Silva, while
Gul wrapped up the innings when he bowled Welegedara for nought. Sharjah,
Friday AFP
SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS (overnight 245-2)
T. Paranavitana c Younis b Gul 4
T. Dilshan c Younis b Ajmal 92
K. Sangakkara c Younis b Ajmal 144
M. Jayawardene lbw b Khan 39
A. Mathews c Akmal b Rehman 17
K. Silva c Ali b Ajmal 39
K. Kulasekara lbw b Ajmal 15
S. Randiv lbw b Gul 1
D. Prasad c Akmal b Khan 17
R. Herath not out 34
C. Welegedara b Gul 0
Extras: (lb5, nb6) 11
TOTAL: 413
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Paranavitana), 2-177 (Dilshan), 3-261 (Jayawardene), 4-300 (Mathews),
5-304 (Sangakkara), 6-330 (Kulasekara), 7-331 (Randiv), 8-359 (Prasad), 9-413 (Silva).
Bowling: Gul 29.3-10-76-3 (nb3), Khan 27-4-94-2 (nb2), Ajmal 51-4-132-4, Rehman 45-14-103-1 (nb1), Hafeez 1-0-3-0.
PAKISTAN 1ST INNINGS
Mohammad Hafeez c Jayawardene b Welegedara 6
Taufiq Umar st Silva b Herath 19
Azhar Ali not out 10
Younis Khan not out 0
TOTAL: (for two wkts) 35
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Hafeez), 2-35 (Umar)
Bowling: Welegedara 5-1-11-1, Prasad 4-0-9-0, Kulasekara 3-0-14-0, Herath 5-4-1-1, Randiv 3-3-0-0. |