GALLE: Pakistan struck with five crucial wickets to derail Sri Lanka’s ascension in the second Test while the home team maintained a commanding lead of 323 runs over the visitors in the second innings on the third day, here on Tuesday.
Pakistan bowlers rebounded in the second and the final sessions of the day to reduce the hosts to 176/5 before umpires called it a day due to bad light.
Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and all-rounder Dhanjaya De Silva anchored the Sri Lankan innings in the last session after they were struggling at 117/5 following Dinesh Chandimal’s departure.
The pair cemented their position on the crease with a valiant sixth-wicket partnership of 59 runs and remained firm on the respective scores of 27 and 30, till the end of the day’s play.
Sri Lanka, however, underwent a dismal start to their second inning as they lost both of their openers on a mere 47-run total.
Naseem Shah had the first breakthrough for Pakistan as he dismissed wicket-keeper batter Niroshan Dickwella on 15 while Osahada Fernando fell prey to Yasir Shah after he scored 19 runs.
Kusal Mendis followed the suit and went back to the pavilion after his 30-ball knock of 15 runs as left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz removed him in a leg-before wicket.
All-rounder Agha Salman, however, got rid of strong-looking Angelo Mathew on 35 after he raised a 41-run fifth-wicket partnership along with Dinesh Chadimal.
Naseem grabbed his second wicket when he dismissed in-form Chadimal in a caught-behind wicket to end his 21-run knock.
On the hand, Yasir, Salman and Nawaz struck out a batter each.
Earlier, in the first session, spinner Ramesh Mendis completed a five-wicket haul while Prabath Jayasuriya bagged three as Sri Lanka bowled out Pakistan for 231 in the first innings to bolster their position in the second Test.
Pakistan tail enders Yasir Shah and Hasan Ali put up a brief resistance to move the total to 223 from the overnight score of 191 before Sri Lankan spinners rebounded and picked three back-to-back wickets for just 8 more runs.
Yasir and Hasan managed an eighth-wicket partnership of 32 runs before Jayasuriya knocked down the latter on 21 runs to force the tail-enders to collapse.
Ramesh then sent Nauman Ali and Yasir back to the pavilion to pack up Pakistan’s innings with his third five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
The leg-spinner played a defiant knock of 97 balls for 26 runs before Ramesh removed him in a leg-before wicket.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan have a 1-0 lead in the series as they defeated the home side by four wickets in the first Test.
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