Pakistan tightened their grip on the first Test against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, declaring their first innings at 434 for 9 and then reducing the visitors to 114 for 3 at stumps on day two. Sri Lanka trail by 320 runs with seven wickets in hand, and play resumes on Wednesday morning for day three.
Resuming on 281 for 5, Pakistan added 153 runs before captain Babar Azam declared after 106.3 overs. Saud Shakeel top-scored with 93 off 199 balls, falling seven runs short of his fifth Test century when he was caught behind off Asitha Fernando — the wicket was Fernando’s 100th in Test cricket. Arafat Minhas, on debut, made 52 and Ghazi Ghori added 48, taking Pakistan past 400. Five batters reached fifty in the innings, three of them debutants.
Sri Lanka’s reply began badly. Debutant fast bowler Saqib Khan struck twice and Mohammad Abbas took one wicket to leave the visitors 12 for 2, before Lahiru Udara’s 42 steadied them. Kamindu Mendis, unbeaten on 40, and Dhananjaya de Silva, on 22, put on an unbroken 49 for the fourth wicket to take Sri Lanka to the close. Sri Lanka need 121 more runs to avoid the follow-on. Bad light ended play early for a second day running, with around 26 overs lost.
The match is the first of a two-Test series in the World Test Championship. The second Test, originally scheduled for Lahore from 17 to 21 November, has been moved to Rawalpindi because of the smog in Lahore — both matches will now be played at the same ground.
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