Published: Jul 04, 2015, 06:17 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 04, 2015, 06:24 PM (IST)
Sarfraz Ahmed played an excellent innings to make sure Pakistan finished Day Two of the third Test at 202 for eight against Sri Lanka at Pallekele. Pakistan still trail Sri Lanka by 69 runs. Azhar Ali too played his part with a well paced 52, before he was dismissed by Nuwan Pradeep. Pradeep along with Dhammika Prasad have been the pick of the bowlers having secured three wickets apiece. Full iupdates: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan 3rd Test, Day 2 at Pallekele
Sri Lanka began the day on 272 for eight, added only a further six runs before they were bowled out for 278. Yasir Shah again finshed with five wickets to his name, getting three five-wicket hauls in as many matches in the series. Pakistan will be happy with their bowling performance especially after Dimuth Karunaratne scored a magnificent 130. Full scorecard: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan 3rd Test, Day 2 at Pallekele
Pakistan made a decent start to their innings but lost both the openers, Shan Masood and Ahmed Shehzad for 13 and 21 respectively. Younis Khan was run out by Kaushal Silva after a direct throw to the non-striker’s end when Younis was looking for a quick single. Pakistan were reeling at 45 for three at the end of the first session.
Azhar and Asad Shafiq resumed the second session with positive intent. they put on a 50-run stand for the fourth wicket. But with Shafiq dismissed, Azhar had to kick on and get a big score once again. He was then joined by Sarfraz and he was looking to take on the bowling immediately. Azhar finally got to his 20th Test fifty but was soon dismissed after that for 52 after he chased a ball outside off, which was safely pouched at the slip cordon.
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq batted t No.7 today as he was struggling from a groin strain. He did not contribute much as he was dismissed for just six. His wicket was soon followed by Ehsan Adil off the very first delivery he faced. Yasir then came together with Sarfraz and the dup put on 45 for the seventh wicket to save Pakistan the embarrassment of getting bowled out for a low score. Sarfraz will ope to get some support from the two remaining batsmen and Pakistan can get as close as possible to the Sri Lankan first innings total.
This after Pakistan had won the toss on Day One and elected to bowl first. Sri Lanka are going onto their match withot their star batsman Kumar Sangakkara, who decided to opt out of this match, but will be available for the upcoming series against India. Both teams have made four changes apiece to their playing XI.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka: 278 (Dimuth Karunaratne 130, Upul Tharanga 46; Rahat Ali 3 for 74, Yasir Shah 5 for 7) lead Pakistan 209 for 9 ( Azhar Ali 52, Sarfraz Ahmed 72*; Dhammika Prasad 3 for 78, Nuwan Pradeep 3 for 26) by 69 runs.
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
