Cricket Highlights, 16 July: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan (1^st Test)

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan (1st Test)

Sri Lanka and Pakistan met in the first match of the 2-match Test series in Sri Lanka on 16 July. In that match, Sri Lanka could not survive in front of Pakistan’s great players, so they had to leave the field with a loss of 4 wickets. Along with this, Saud Shakeel won the man of the match title by scoring a double century for Pakistan.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first and invited Pakistan to bowl. First, they were not in a good position to bat. Sri Lanka lost 4 wickets for the team’s 54 runs. Nishan Madushka scored 4 runs. Kusal Mendis scored 12 runs off 14 balls. Dimuth Karunaratne scored 29 runs with the help of 6 fours. And Dinesh Chandimal left the field after being caught out. Then in the 49th over, Angelo Mathews, who scored 64 runs with the help of 9 fours, left the field.

After that, Dhananjaya de Silva took Sri Lanka to a respectable total after Angelo Mathews departed for the team’s 185 runs. He scored 122 runs off 214 balls with the help of 12 fours and 3 sixes. Besides, Sadeera Samarawickrama scored 36 runs from 57 balls with the help of 5 fours. And Vishwa Fernando remained unbeaten on 21 runs. In the end, Sri Lanka scored 312 runs in the 1st innings after losing 10 wickets. 

Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Abarar Ahmed took 3 wickets each for Pakistan. Besides, Salman took 1 wicket. Along with that, Afridi reached the milestone of 100 wickets in Test cricket by returning Sri Lankan opener Nishan Madushka.

However, Pakistan scored 461 runs in reply to Sri Lanka’s 312 in the first innings. The side of Babar Azam has amassed a commanding advantage of 149 runs. The visiting Pakistan had to retaliate while being on the defensive. Imam-ul-Haq was ejected after just one run. The 19 runs were scored by Abdullah Shafique. Captain Babar Azam went out for 13 runs, and Shan Masood scored 39 runs.

On the other hand, Saud Shakeel took charge of the Pakistan innings when wickets were falling at regular intervals. In the meantime, Sarfaraz Ahmed left the game after amassing 17 runs. However, Agha Salman and Saud Shakeel’s combination greatly aided Pakistan’s victory. A great partnership of 177 runs was made by the two.

After 83 runs in 113 balls, Agha Salman was out. After that, Noman Ali joined Saud Shakeel at the plate. Noman Ali was out after scoring 52 runs partnership. He used 57 balls to score 25 runs.

Then, Abrar Ahmed was out for 10, Naseem Shah was out for 6, and Shaheen Shah Afridi was out for nine runs. The Pakistani batters were all eventually out, but Saud Shakeel managed to hold off the Lankan bowling with 208 runs while remaining unbroken. 19 fours were part of his 208 runs off 361 balls inning. By hitting two centuries in his sixth Test at Galle, this Pakistani batsman helped his team get off to a strong start.

For Sri Lanka, Ramesh Mendis bowled outstandingly. 5 wickets were taken by this right-handed off-break bowler alone. 3 wickets were taken by Prabhath Jayasuriya. Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha each took one wicket.

After a trial of 149 runs in the second innings, Sri Lanka’s batting ended with 279 runs. Opening batsman Nishan Madhushanka scored 52 runs, followed by Dhananjaya de Silva’s 82 runs and Rames Mendis’ 42 runs. In addition, nobody else can score important runs.

For Pakistan, Abrar Ahmed and Noman Ali each took three wickets. In addition, Shaheen Afridi and Agah Salman each claimed two wickets.

On Day 4, Pakistan was facing a target of just 131 runs. A pretty easy objective. But the way the ball was turned by Prabhat Jayasuriya in the late afternoon, Pakistan could not claim that it was that simple.

Pakistan lost 3 wickets for 38 runs with a target of 131 runs. With 48 runs for 3 wickets, the visitors had finished the day. For Sri Lanka to win, they needed 7 wickets and Pakistan needed 83 more runs. With the help of Imam-ul-Haq’s 50 runs from 84 balls and Saud Sakil’s 30 runs from 38 balls on the last day, Pakistan reached the port of victory after losing 6 wickets. They must triumph in the last game to win the series.

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan Scoreboard

Sri Lanka (1st innings) – 312/10 (95.2)

Pakistan (1st innings) – 461/10 (121.2)

Sri Lanka (2nd innings) – 279/10 (83.1)

Pakistan (2nd innings) – 133/6 (32.5)

Result – Pakistan won by 4 wickets

Player of the match – Saud Shakeel

Saud Shakeel

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan Playing Xis