Right-arm leg-spinner Yasir Shah’s career best bowling performance of 7 for 76 on day five abetted Pakistan to beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the first Test concluded at Galle International Stadium on Sunday.
This is the first Test win for Pakistan on Lankan soil since 2006 after the visitors last beat the hosts’ at Asgiriya. Incidentally, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka at Galle after 15 years and this is their 2nd victory at this picturesque venue. After counting out all the rain interruptions, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka in only three and half days.
Galle has been a spinner’s paradise and with this performance, Yasir Shah replaced the great, Shane Warne (7/92) to produce the best bowling performance by a leg-spinner in Sri Lanka.
Earlier, Pakistan made the best possible start on day five when night watchman, Dilruwan Perera left a Yasir Shah googly which crashed the off-stump in the very first ball.
Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar were attacking all morning with only two fielders in the off-side prompting the left-handed duo, Dimuth Karunarathne and Lahiru Thirimanne to hit against the spin. Both Dimuth and Thirimanne used their feat excellently against Babar and Shah which negotiated the spin extracted out of this four days old surface.
Thirimanne was eye-pleasing and his elegant cuts through the third-man region off Hafeez expunged the threat delicately. Wahab Riaz was brought back in the 49th over for his 2nd spell and immediately he lured the Lankan vice-captain to play at a delivery well outside his off-stump.
The second ball after Lunch, Sri Lanka lost their leader, Angelo Mathews after he was given caught by Azhar Ali off Yasir Shah. Angelo reviewed the decision straightaway but due to no conclusive evidence, umpire Richard Illingworth upheld his terrible decision but there was clear day light between bat and ball.
Sri Lanka needed Dimuth Karunarathne to bat on and get a big hundred as he looked well-organized scoring his 6th Test half-ton but a lapse of concentration when he was 79 provoked him to come down the track against a sharp turning ball by Yasir Shah but missed it completely and the bails were whipped off excellently by Sarfraz Ahmed.
Dinesh Chandimal and Kithruwan Vithanage were the last two recognized batsmen for Sri Lanka but Vithnage played a horrible sweep shot against Yasir Shah which was snapped up by Zulfiqar Babar at deep square leg.
Prasad and Herath exposed their poor batting abilities against spin when they were dismissed trying to play twenty20 shots. Chandimal was aggressive in his batting approach but was cautious against the spinners but eventually, Yasir drew him out with flight and defeated him with dip and sharp turn to end the Lankan innings for 206. Incidentally, Sri Lanka lost their five wickets for 39 runs on both innings.
Pakistan needed 90 runs to win the game and their openers Mohammed Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad cruised through to victory in 11.2 overs.
After the game, Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews reasoned the loss in front of media, “Really disappointed the way we let it slip from our hands after they were 96/5. We were completely outplayed in all departments. We need to keep faith in the youngsters. Good thing is we can still bounce back and win the remaining two games.”
Sri Lanka – 300 all out in 109.3 overs: Dimuth Karunarathne 21, Kaushal Silva 125, Kumar Sangakkara 50, Dinesh Chandimal 23, Wahab Riaz 3/74, Zulfiqar Babar 3/64, Yasir Shah 2/79, Mohammed Hafeez 2/40.
Pakistan – 417 all out in 113.1 overs: Younis Khan 47, Sarfraz Ahmed 96, Asad Shafiq 131, Zulfiqar Babar 56, Dhammika Prasad 3/91, Nuwan Pradeep 2/71, Dilruwan Perera 4/122.
Sri Lanka (2nd inn) – 206 all out in 77.1 overs: Dimuth Karunarathne 79, Lahiru Thirimanne 44, Dinesh Chandimal 38, Yasir Shah 7/76, Wahab Riaz 2/46.
Pakistan (2nd inn) – 92 for no loss in 11.2 overs: Mohammed Hafeez 46*, Ahmed Shehzad 43*.
The Man of the Match – Sarfraz Ahmed
