Cricket News: Sri Lanka VS Pakistan 1st Test - Abdullah Shafique's ton wins it for Pakistan on Day 5
Abdullah Shafique scored an unbeaten 160 as Pakistan overcame Sri Lanka by four wickets on Wednesday to grab a 1-0 series lead
Pakistan overcame Sri Lanka by four wickets on Wednesday to grab a 1-0 series leadThe 160 not-out innings in 408 balls by Abdullah Shafique held Pakistan firm from the very first ball of their second innings on a chase of 342 runs. Pakistan has now taken a lead of 1-0 in the two-match series, and Sri Lanka will be disappointed as they looked a little ahead of Pakistan throughout the five days.
Resuming the play from Abdullah Shafique's score of unbeaten 112 and a lead of 120 to cover to win, the batter gave Sri Lanka a chance to bounce back into the game when his slog sweep got a top edge, but Sri Lanka missed taking the catch. Kasun Rajitha, at that moment, probably dropped the last chances Sri Lanka had to make a comeback. Mohammad Rizwan added 71-run in partnership with Abdullah Shafique before being taken by Prabath Jayasuriya at his score of 40 runs. Cameo roles from Agha Salman (12), Hasan Ali (5) and Mohammad Nawaz (19*) with the set batter Abdullah Shafique on the other end pulled off the highest successful run chase in Galle.
Though Sri Lanka lost, they had their biggest positive takeaway in the form of Prabath Jayasuriya, who took all the pressure of bowling his side to bring them closer to victory by taking four wickets. He hardly got enough support from the other end while he was toiling hard. In the two games he has played until now, he has bowled 147.2 overs and taken 19 wickets, giving Sri Lanka their next probable ace bowler.
Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said, "I think if we put more runs in the first innings, we could have put more pressure on Pakistan. With the ball we could not support Prabath from the other end. We had to give him more support. The pitch went a bit flat at that point, but as a bowling unit we need to give more support to Prabath. He is capable of bowling a lot of overs. He did a great job. He bowled good areas despite bowling 30-35 overs. We will try our best and correct the mistakes."
A closely fought game, and now the two sides will now lock horns for the next match on 24th July. We can expect a strong comeback game from the hosts as they did against Australia but with some changes due to niggles or strategies.
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