Due to the failure of the Sri Lankan bowlers to give a challenge to the Pakistani batsmen led by Abdullah Shafiq, Sri Lanka suffered a 4-wicket defeat in the first Test which ended today (20th) at the Galle International Stadium. The Pakistan team achieved this target of 342 runs, which became the record for the highest chase in the fourth innings at the Galle International Stadium, conceding only 6 wickets to the opponents.
Opening batsman Abdullah Shafiq was the leader of this victory, which became the record for the second highest number of runs scored by a foreign team in a Test match held in Sri Lanka. The right-handed batsman, who batted from the beginning of the innings till the winning runs, faced 408 balls for the 160 runs scored. Apart from the 36 runs scored by bowling the ball seven times and one over the fours, the other 124 runs were scored by running between the wickets.
Pakistan needed only 120 runs to win today. For that, they had 7 wickets left. Today, the Sri Lankan bowlers lost the catch and the negative result was that the Pakistanis came to the front in the series 1-0.
Prabhat Jayasuriya took 2 of the 3 wickets lost today. Mohammad Rizawan was caught for the mistake of taking the wicket, and Salman Agha Dickwella caught the ball and got out. With 11 runs to win, bad weather interrupted the match, but shortly after, the Pakistanis managed to win the match without conceding any more wickets in the opening match.
The second Test between the two countries will start on Sunday 24th at the Galle International Stadium.
Sri Lanka 222 all out in 66.1 overs – (Oshadha Fernando 35, Dimuth Karunaratne 01, Kusal Mendis 21, Angelo Mathews 00, Dinesh Chandimal 76, Dhananjaya de Silva 11, Niroshan Dickwella 04, Ramesh Mendis 11, Prabhat Jaya 03, Mahesh Teekshana 38, Kasun Rajitha (not out) 12, Shaheen Afridi 58/4, Yasir Shah 66/2, Hasan Ali 23/2)
Pakistan 216 all out in 90.5 overs – (Abdullah Shafiq 13, Imam-ul-Haq 02, Azhar Ali 03, Babar Azam 119, Mohammad Rizwan 19, Agha Salman 05, Mohammad Nawaz 05, Shaheen Afridi 00, Yasir Shah 18, Hasan Ali 17, Naseem Shah 05, Kasun Rajitha 42/1, Mahesh Teekshana 68/2, Prabhat Jayasuriya 82/5, Ramesh Mendis 18/2)
Sri Lanka second innings 337 in 100 overs – Oshadha Fernando 64, Dimuth Karunaratne 16, Kasun Rajitha 07, Kusal Mendis 76, Angelo Mathews 09, Dinesh Chandimal 94 (Not out), Dhananjaya de Silva 20, Niroshan Dickwella 12, Ramesh Mendis 22, Mahesh Teekshana 11, Prabhat Jayasuriya 04, Mohammad Nawaz 88/5, Yasir Shah 122/3, Hasan Ali 19/1)
Pakistan second innings 344 for 6 in 127.2 overs – (Abdullah Shafiq (not out) 160, Imam-ul-Haq 35, Azhar Ali 06, Babar Azam 55, Mohammad Rizwan 40, Mohammad Rizwan 40, Samal Agha 12, Hasan Ali 05 , Mohammad Nawaz (not out) 19, Prabhat Jayasuriya 135/4, Ramesh Mendis 102/1, Dhananjaya de Silva 33/1)
