On the opening day of the second test, which took place on Monday, Pakistan bowled Sri Lanka out for 166 runs thanks to the combined efforts of leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed and fast bowler Naseem Shah, who split seven wickets between them.
The hosts of the match in Colombo made the decision to bat first, and Dhananjaya de Silva led the way with 57 runs scored before Pakistan finished out the innings in the second session to take a 1-0 lead in the two-game series.
A good lower-order contribution of 27 runs from number eight Ramesh Mendis was made before he was bowled by Abrar, at which point the authorities called for a tea break.
After a delay of 30 minutes caused by rain throughout the night and early morning, Sri Lanka found themselves in an early hole with a score of 36-4.
In Sri Lanka’s first Test defeat, De Silva scored 122 and 82 runs, and he made an effort at a quickfire knock to get his team back in the game. Together with Dinesh Chandimal, who scored 34 runs, he contributed to an 85-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
The partnership was finally broken by Naseem, who finished with three wickets, when he had Chandimal caught by Imam-ul-Haq.
Abrar, who finished with statistics of 4-69, got started right away by taking two wickets in a row, including de Silva’s, to put a damper on Sri Lanka’s chances of making a comeback.
After De Silva scored his 13th Test fifty, Abrar was the bowler he was facing and he proceeded to knock a six off of him. However, Abrar got his own back by catching De Silva at mid-wicket.
During his 68-ball innings, De Silva batted without restriction, collecting nine fours and one six.
Nishan Madushka, the opener, started off the innings with a four off of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s fourth delivery of the first over, but he was run out without adding to his score after being called for a sharp single by Dimuth Karunaratne, the team’s captain.
Left-arm quick Soon after, Naseem got rid of Sri Lanka’s two most seasoned batsmen inside the space of eight deliveries after Shaheen had already taken out Kusal Mendis for six.
Naseem put a stop to Angelo Mathews’s shaky nine-run performance by having the former captain caught behind, and then he bowled the left-handed Karunaratne off an inside edge for 17.
Pakistan, led by Babar Azam, prevailed against Sri Lanka in the first test match at Galle by a score of four wickets.