Dimuth Karunaratne’s brilliant 196 and half centuries from Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella and Dilruwan Perera helped Sri Lanka post 482 runs in their first innings. At stumps on Day 2 Pakistan were 51 for no loss, still trailing by 431 runs.
Sri Lanka resumed play on 254 for 4 with Skipper Dinesh Chandimal on 49 and he wasted no time in reaching his half century in the very first over of the day. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, he was undone by a slider from Yasir Shah which looked to be hitting him plumb in front, but turned out to be missing the stumps. Chandimal did not review and thus missed out on a potential ton.
The hosts got the opening they wanted early on but couldn’t capitalize on it as Dickwella came in and took the attack to the bowlers. He and Karunaratne scored some quick runs which allowed Sri Lanka to go into the tea break having scored 101 runs for the loss of just one wicket in the session. With Mohammed Amir injured, the Pakistani bowlers were under immense pressure.
The second session was once again dominated by the visitors despite Pakistan getting the early break through as Mohommad Abbas struck against the run of play as he dismissed Dickwella for a run-a-ball 52.
After the loss of Dickwella, Karunaratne and Dilruwan Perera built up another handy partnership but Wahab Riaz broke through the defenses of Karunaratne as the latter chopped on, just 4 runs short of his first double century. During his marathon innings which lasted 405 balls, he also became only the 12th Sri Lankan to go past 3000 Test runs. The loss of Karunaratne saw runs drying up for the Lankans. Dilruwan’s positive start was somewhat paused by some good tight bowling from Shah. However, Sri Lanka’s make-shift all-rounder reached his 7th half ton, to keep the visitors’ innings going.
Towards the latter part of the 2nd session, the hosts tightened the screws and Dilruwan was bowled around his legs by Shah. The Sri Lankan tail was struggling to keep the scoreboard ticking over and after an 18-over period which yielded just 28 runs, they were finally bowled out for 482. The innings was dominated by the Lankan batters but Shah was once again the lone hero for the hosts. His mammoth effort of 55.5 overs earned him a much deserved 6 wicket-haul. He also became the first spinner in the history of Test cricket to claim 5-fers in 5 consecutive Tests.
Pakistan had 18 overs to bat out and they managed to do so minus any hiccups. Sri Lanka in the process lost a review when Sami Aslam was struck on his pads by an in swinger from debutant Lahiru Gamage, which replays showed was missing the stumps. They also missed out on an opportunity when Shan Masood was struck on his pads by Dilruwan Perera. With the ball looking to be sliding down the leg side the Sri Lankans did not go for a review but replays showed the ball crashing into leg stump.
The Pakistani openers looked untroubled against the new ball and Sri Lanka will be disappointed with their effort under lights. They do still have the upper hand in the game and will look to pick up some early wickets on day 3 in order to push for a win.
