Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 2nd Test: Dimuth Karunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva Take Hosts’ Lead Past 300
Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 2nd Test: Despite suffering from back pain, Sri Lanka’s captain Dimuth Karunaratne battled through the pain to bring his team’s total for the second innings to 323 on the second day of the second test match against Pakistan on Tuesday.
Stumps were called in Galle after a wait of more than half an hour for conditions to improve, with the home team having achieved 176 runs for five wickets before play was suspended due to poor lighting early on the third day of the match.
Karunaratne, who bats left-handed, was on 27 when Dhananjaya de Silva, who bats right-handed, reached 30. Together, they had an undefeated stand of 59.
First season
After the first session of the match, Sri Lanka held a lead of 147 runs going into their second innings thanks to a five-wicket haul by spinner Ramesh Mendis, who also contributed to the bowling out of the visiting Pakistani team for 231 runs.
When Karunaratne, who had been off the field for the entirety of Pakistan’s innings, and De Silva got down to business, Sri Lanka was in a precarious position, with 117 runs already scored.
Karunaratne was happy to play the role of the anchor while De Silva took on the bowlers of the other team and struck six boundaries. In the midst of his knock, the team captain requested assistance from the physiotherapist.
Karunaratne rotated the strike and also struck two boundaries in addition to a reverse sweep for four off of Yasir Shah’s leg spin.
Mathews
After the previous captain, who hit 35 runs, attempted to rebuild the innings with Dinesh Chandimal, Pakistan had earlier rocked the Sri Lankan batting with important wickets together with Angelo Mathews in his one-hundredth Test. Pakistan also took wickets with Angelo Mathews.
Mathews was dismissed by off-spinner Agha Salman for his first wicket in a Test match after Pakistan disputed the umpire’s decision. Cutting-edge technology confirmed that a spike occurred when the ball passed the bat and into the hands of the slip fielder.
At the age of 21, the in-form Chandimal, who had scores of 206 not out, 76, 94 not out, and 80 in his previous four innings, appeared to be in good shape but was caught behind by the quick spinner Naseem Shah just after tea.
Naseem, who got three wickets in Sri Lanka’s first innings, had struck first with the wicket of Niroshan Dickwella, who fell for 15 after opening rather than the injured Karunaratne. Naseem went on to take two more wickets in Sri Lanka’s first innings.
First innings
Yasir was successful in dismissing Oshada Fernando for 19 while Mohammad Nawaz, a fellow spinner, was successful in trapping Kusal Mendis’s leg before wicket for 15.
In response to Sri Lanka’s first innings score of 378, Pakistan’s innings came to an end when the tourists resumed play on the next day on 191-7.
Ramesh, an off-spinner, dismissed again Nauman Ali and then trapped in a single day batsman Yasir lbw for 26 to claim a third five-wicket haul in his tenth Test to round off the innings. Yasir was out for 26. Ramesh’s haul gave him his third five-wicket haul.
The tourists chased down a record 342 on the same site in the first game of the two-match series, which Pakistan won to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Sri Lanka now has to win in order to draw level with Pakistan on a wicket that has been favorable to the batsmen but is expected to turn on day 4.