Sri Lanka lost just one wicket in a whole day of Test cricket in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, and by stumps the match had turned on its head. The visitors closed day three of the first Test on 404 for 4, only 30 runs behind Pakistan’s first innings total of 434 for 9 declared, after Dhananjaya de Silva and captain Kusal Mendis both scored centuries in an unbroken 249-run stand. Play ended early for bad light at about 4:15pm, with six wickets still in hand and two days left.
One wicket in a whole day
Sri Lanka resumed on 114 for 3, still 320 runs behind. Instead, the tourists added 290 runs for the loss of a single wicket in 74.5 overs. They were 221 for 4 at lunch and 348 for 4 at tea, and the gap kept shrinking through the final session until bad light stopped play.
The only wicket to fall was Kamindu Mendis, who made 58 from 131 balls before edging Mohammad Abbas to wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori, leaving Sri Lanka 155 for 4. Kamindu and de Silva had added 90 runs for the fourth wicket, and from that point Pakistan did not take another wicket for the rest of the day.
Pakistan will rue one moment in particular. De Silva, then on 38, flashed at a delivery from Razaullah and Saud Shakeel could not hold a sharp chance at slip. The reprieve cost Pakistan dearly, as de Silva batted on unbeaten for the rest of the day.
Two centuries, two different stories
De Silva finished the day on 167 not out from 241 balls, with 20 fours, after resuming on 22. He reached his fifty from 67 balls and his hundred from 151, his 14th century in Test cricket, and he was still there at stumps, having batted through all three sessions.
Kusal Mendis finished on 117 not out from 188 balls, with 10 fours and four sixes. He reached his hundred from 152 balls, his 11th in Test cricket and his first as captain, in his first match as Sri Lanka’s Test skipper. Sri Lanka Cricket noted that he is the first Sri Lankan to score a hundred on his Test captaincy debut.
Together, the pair have added 249 runs for the fifth wicket without being separated. The stand has changed the shape of the series opener, after Sri Lanka had lost three wickets on the second evening.
Pakistan’s spinners could not buy a wicket
The most striking numbers of the day belong to Pakistan’s spinners. Razaullah bowled 23 overs for 127 runs without a wicket, and Arafat Minhas bowled 21 overs for 92 runs without a wicket. Between them, the two spinners conceded 219 runs in 44 overs and took nothing on a third-day pitch.
Mohammad Abbas was the one bowler who kept control, taking 2 for 64 from 29 overs with 11 maidens, and his dismissal of Kamindu was the only breakthrough of the day. Debutant Saqib Khan finished with 2 for 105 from 26 overs, and Salman Agha bowled three overs for nine runs.
The attack is a young one: four debutants played in the first Test, and the lack of a senior spinner to apply pressure through the middle of the day showed as the two batters settled. Pakistan sent down 74.5 overs in the day and managed a single wicket.
What day four now demands
Sri Lanka resume on Thursday morning 30 runs behind with six wickets in hand. The follow-on is already out of the question: they passed the follow-on mark of 234 early in the day, and if they pass 434 they will take a first-innings lead for the first time in the match. Pakistan would then have to bat again on a wearing pitch.
Pakistan need early wickets on the fourth morning, or the lead will slip away with their best chance of forcing a result. Two days remain, but bad light keeps eating into the match: nearly 45 overs were lost to bad light across the first two days, and the third day also ended early. The second Test moves from Lahore to Rawalpindi because of the smog, so this ground will host both matches of the series.
The first Test opens a two-match series in the ICC World Test Championship. Pakistan declared on 434 for 9, built on Saud Shakeel’s 93 and half-centuries from Tayyab Arif, Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Taha and Babar Azam. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field.
Day four begins on Thursday, with de Silva and Kusal Mendis resuming their stand and Pakistan searching for the breakthrough that eluded them all day. More sports news from Pakistan is available on PakMirror.
