Honours even after absorbing first day in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi: A riveting battle between bat and ball marked the return of Test cricket to Pakistan in more than 10 years as Sri Lanka ended a shortened day-one of the first ICC World Test Championship series match placed at 202 for five in their first innings at the Pindi Cricket Stadium against the hosts on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and opted to bat first. Karunaratne and fellow opener Oshada Fernando survived some anxious moment in the opening passage of play before taking the attack to Pakistan’s four-pronged pace attack.

Sri Lanka took lunch with the openers unbeaten and 89 runs on the board. Karunaratne was batting on 57 while Fernando was not out on 26.

Pakistan pacers roared back in the second session taking four wickets to derail Sri Lanka’s batting line-up. With the total at 96, Shaheen Shah Afridi removed Karunaratne for 59 (110 balls, nine fours).

Naseem Shah took Fernando’s (40 off 81 balls, six fours and one six) wicket while Kusal Mendis (10) became debutant fast bowler Usman Shinwari’s first Test victim. Mohammad Abbas bowled Dinesh Chandimal for two runs as the tourists were reduced to 137 for four in 50 overs at tea.

They lost four wickets for 31 runs, scoring a mere 48 runs in the two-hour long post-lunch session in which 24 overs were bowled.

Dhananjaya de Silva (38 not out, 77 balls, six fours) and Angelo Mathews 31 (77 balls, four fours) added 62 runs for the fifth wicket to stabilise the Sri Lanka innings. Pakistan made a crucial breakthrough when Naseem had Mathews smartly caught by Asad Shafiq in the slips.

When stumps were drawn premature due to bad light Niroshan Dickwella (11 not out) was at the crease with de Silva.

Pakistan awarded two Test caps, along with Usman, opener Abid Ali also made his Test debut.

Scores in brief:

Sri Lanka 202 for 5, 68.1 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 59, Oshada Fernando 40, Dhananjaya de Silva 38 not out; Naseem Shah 2-51)