Cricket Highlights, 16 July: SL vs PAK (1st Test – Day 1)

SL vs PAK (1st Test – Day 1) – Highlights

Sri Lanka and Pakistan are at equilibrium at the end of the first day of the Galle Test. Pakistan had a chance to take control of the match after bowling out the hosts Sri Lanka for 222 runs. But the two openers of the visiting team failed to do that.

At the end of the first day of the match, Pakistan collected 24 runs after losing 2 wickets in 18 overs. They are still 198 runs behind the Lankans. Sri Lanka was bowled out for 222 after playing 66.1 overs in their first innings where they could add 89 runs in the last two wickets.

Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and elected to bat first, sending the Men in Greens to field first. The pace and control of Pakistan’s two fast bowlers, Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali, and the whirlwind magic of leg-spinner Yasir Shah knocked the hosts out of the match early on. They lost 4 wickets for 68 runs. Yasir took two of these four wickets. As a result, he is now the second highest wicket-taker among Pakistani spinners in Test cricket.

After taking the wicket of Kusal Mendis (21), he overtook legendary Pakistani leg-spinner Abdul Qadir, in Tests. He got past Qadir by dismissing Angelo Mathews (0). He is now Pakistan’s second highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 237 wickets. Only former leg-spinner Danish Kaneria (261 wickets) is ahead of him.

At one stage Sri Lanka lost 8 wickets for 133 runs. They managed to get past 200 from that position largely thanks to Dinesh Chandimal’s half-century and Maheesh Theekshana’s short but effective innings. The hosts got a pair of 44 runs for the ninth wicket and 45 runs for the tenth wicket.

Chandimal scored the highest innings of 76 off 115 balls before being dismissed by Hasan Ali after coming down to bat at five. Theekshana, who came down as a number 10 batter, scored 38 runs off 65 balls.

Although Yasir has surpassed Qadir in wicket-taking, pacer Shaheen Afridi has made Sri Lankan batsmen suffer more. This left-hand fast bowler of Pakistan took 4 wickets with 58 runs. Hasan Ali took 2 wickets with 23 runs. Apart from this, Mohammad Nawaz and Naseem Shah took 1 wicket each.

Later, Pakistan’s two openers, Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique, could not pass the day smoothly after batting in the late afternoon. Imam (2) returned to the dressing room after becoming a victim of Lankan pacer Kasun Rajitha in the team’s 12 runs. Although a pacer got the first wicket, the Pakistani batsmen were under pressure from the Lankan whirlwind.

Another opener Abdullah Shafique (13) was caught lbw by left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya. Captain Babar Azam 1* and veteran Azhar Ali 3* runs will start Pakistan’s second day’s game.

SL vs PAK Scoreboard

Sri Lanka (1st Innings) – 222/10 (66.1)

Pakistan (1st Innings) – 24/2 (18.0)

SL vs PAK Playing Xis