Pakistan A chased down 148 in the last session of day 4 to register an 8 wicket victory in the 2nd unofficial test against Sri Lanka A at Worcester.
The Lankans were in a spot of bother at 83 for 2 at stumps on day 3. Lahiru Gamage who came in as night watchman put up a half century stand with Dhananjaya De Silva to consolidate the innings and frustrate the Pakistanis. It was Hasan Ali who broke the partnership by getting rid of Dhananjaya for a well-made 88.
Roshen Silva was yet again amongst the run as he scored a valuable 40 at No 5, however, he will rue the fact that he could not carry on. Ashan Priyanjan made amends for his failure in the first innings as he scored 66 to put Lankans into a relatively safe position.
When Shadab Khan took the wicket of Priyanjan, the rest of the batting line-up panicked. They were looking good at 275 for 6 but within ten overs the tides changed. Sri Lankan A lost a cluster of wickets and were pushed to the corner by the Pakistanis.
At 309 for 9, with a lead of just 98 runs Sri Lanka had to dig deep and bat through but Minod Bhanuka gave another life line to the Lankans. His unbeaten 54 helped Sri Lanka post 358 runs which gave them 147 runs to defend in the final two hours of play. Ali was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan A as he bagged 4 wickets to go with his valuable half century in the first innings.
Pakistan A’s intentions were clear and their execution was perfect. Skipper Babar Azam took matters into his own hands and opened the innings. His unbeaten 66 runs in just 48 balls to go with a 48 ball half century by Saud Shakeel guided Pakistan over the line in just 19.1 overs.
The Sri Lankans managed to take two wickets but they couldn’t control the onslaught by the Pakistan top order. With this 8 wicket victory they leveled the series one all.
Pakistan A 461 for 8 dec (Shakeel 86, Hasan 73, De Silva 2-28) and 148 for 2 (Azam 66*, Shakeel 51*, Fernando 2-38)
Sri Lanka A 250 (Silva 57, Hamza 4-62) and 358 (De Silva 88, Hasan Ali 4-67, Shadab Khan 4-89)
Pakistan A won by 8 wickets
