ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
Twin Centuries Put Sri Lanka in Control at RawalpindiSports
Dhananjaya de Silva’s unbeaten 167 and Kusal Mendis’s 117 have carried Sri Lanka to 404 for 4 at stumps on day three, just 30 runs behind Pakistan.
Share:
Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis both struck centuries on the third day of the first Test in Rawalpindi, carrying Sri Lanka to 404 for 4 at stumps on Wednesday, 11 November, just 30 runs behind Pakistan’s first-innings total of 434 for 9 declared. The pair’s unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 249 has handed the visitors control of the match heading into day four.
Sri Lanka resumed the day on 114 for 3 and lost only one wicket all day, adding 290 runs in a display of patience that turned into dominance. De Silva, unbeaten on 167 from 241 balls, batted through the entire day, while Mendis finished on 117 not out from 188 deliveries. Their partnership is now a record for Sri Lanka against Pakistan, passing the 207 put together by Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan in Lahore in 2009.
ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
A dropped catch Pakistan came to regret
De Silva had enjoyed a major slice of luck early in the morning. On 38, he flashed at a delivery from young fast bowler Razaullah and was dropped by Saud Shakeel at slip, a sharp chance that went straight down. He made Pakistan pay in full, reaching his 14th Test hundred with a boundary off spinner Arafat Minhas and finishing the day six runs short of his career-best score of 173. His innings so far contains 20 boundaries.
Mendis, leading Sri Lanka in a Test for the first time after taking over the captaincy from de Silva before this series, became the first Sri Lankan to score a century in his maiden Test as captain. His was the more aggressive of the two hundreds, featuring four sixes and 10 fours, and he brought up three figures with a ramp shot over the wicketkeeper off Razaullah, a stroke he repeated for six in the same bowler’s next over. His hundred was his 11th in Test cricket.
The one wicket Pakistan did manage came in the first session, when Kamindu Mendis completed his eighth Test half-century before edging Mohammad Abbas to wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori for 58 from 131 balls. That ended a fourth-wicket stand of 90, but the breakthrough brought no relief. Abbas, with figures of 2 for 64, was the only Pakistan bowler to look consistently threatening, while debutant Saqib Khan finished the day on 2 for 105. Even the new ball did little to trouble the two set batters on a pitch that had flattened out, and bad light brought play to a close 15 minutes early.
Pakistan had declared their first innings on 434 for 9 on the second day, with Saud Shakeel top-scoring on 93. Sri Lanka’s reply had begun badly, with three wickets falling before stumps on day two, but the recovery led by de Silva and Mendis has left the home side needing quick wickets on the fourth morning if they are to force a result. The match is the first of a two-Test series and part of the World Test Championship. The second Test, starting on 17 November, will also be played in Rawalpindi after being moved from Lahore because of poor weather.
Related Coverage
