After Pakistan restricted Sri Lanka to 166 runs on the first day of the second test match on Monday, both Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood scored half-centuries to help their team earn the day’s honors.
At the end of the day in Colombo, Pakistan’s score was 145-2, putting them behind Sri Lanka by 21 runs. Pakistan now has a 1-0 lead in the two-game series.
Both Shafique, who was on 74, and Babar Azam, who was on eight, were at the crease when play was called off for the day due to poor lighting.
In order to put Sri Lanka on the defensive with their aggressive play, Shafique and Masood, who bats left-handed and scored 51 runs, stitched up a 108-run partnership for the second wicket.
After leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed and fast bowler Naseem Shah split seven wickets between them to remove the hosts in the second session, bowlers from Pakistan were able to establish their dominance over the competition.
During Pakistan’s reply, Imam-ul-Haq was dismissed for six runs early on, but Shafique and Masood quickly bounced back with a continuous flow of four-run boundaries. As a result, Pakistan scored almost six runs per over for a significant portion of their innings thus far.
After being caught by Prabath Jayasuriya off his own bowling on 42, Shafique achieved his fifty with a magnificent six off of the same bowler. Jayasuriya had earlier caught Shafique.
Masood reached his fifty off of 44 balls, but he didn’t last long because Asitha Fernando, the quick bowler, soon claimed his second wicket when Kusal Mendis took a fine diving catch at mid-wicket. Masood’s exit came shortly after.
Shafique, who was given not out after a close call on 74, held his ground and, together with Azam, saw the remainder of the day through as his team surpassed Sri Lanka’s total for the first innings.
Earlier, when the hosts of Sri Lanka had opted to bat first, Pakistan finished out the innings of their opponents in 48.4 overs.
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.
Dhananjaya De Silva, who scored 122 and 82 during Sri Lanka’s first Test defeat, made an attempt at a quickfire knock in an effort to get Sri Lanka back on track. 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 Shah, who finished with three wickets, when he had Chandimal caught by 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.
Until he left the game, De Silva batted without restriction, racking up nine fours and one six over the course of his 68-ball innings.