Yasir celebrates with Misbah as Pakistan claimed a convincing 10-wicket win. They have now won 123 Test matches, more than any other Asian side, edging India’s 122. PHOTO: AFP
GALLE:
Leg-spinner Yasir Shah claimed a career-best 7-76 as Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the first Test on Sunday to take the lead in their three-match series.
Yasir spun a web around the Sri Lankan batsmen to skittle them for a paltry 206 in their second innings just before tea on the fifth and final day.
Pakistan, set a victory target of 90, raced home in 11.2 overs with Muhammad Hafeez unbeaten on 46 and Ahmed Shehzad on 43 at the Galle International Stadium.
It was Pakistan’s first Test win in Sri Lanka since the eight-wicket triumph in Kandy in 2006.
Pakistan’s remarkable recovery from 96-5 in the first innings came after the entire first day’s play had been washed out and just 64 overs were bowled on the second day.
Opener Dimuth Karunaratne top-scored with 79, Lahiru Thirimanne made 44 and Dinesh Chandimal was last man out for 38, but the rest of the batsmen folded against Pakistan’s incisive bowling.
The 29-year-old Yasir ripped through the batting as Sri Lanka lost their last five wickets for 39 runs after being 167-5 at one stage.
Sri Lanka took their overnight score of 63-2 to 144-4 by lunch, before a further six wickets fell on a dramatic afternoon in front of some 1,000 home fans.
Pakistan captain Misbahul Haq, who had gambled by electing to field first after winning the toss, was jubilant by what he described as a “big win”. “It was very clear in our minds that the only one way to win this Test was if we got them out early in the first innings,” said the 41-year-old. “We took our chance and it worked. There was a bit of moisture which helped our spinners, because the ball turned and bounced.”
Misbah was also quick to praise the partnership that got them back into the game. “Hats off to everyone,” he said. “It began with the fightback by Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed from 96-5. This really is a big win for us and boosts our confidence for the remaining matches.”
Meanwhile, a disappointed Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews hoped his team will recover from the defeat. “This was a pretty bad loss for us, but the Pakistanis deserved to win,” he said, before adding that there is still a lot of cricket to go in the series. “The idea was to bat through the day, but we kept losing wickets. We have two more games to bounce back and don’t need to panic. It was just a one-off game. We have got to keep trust in the players we have got.”
The hosts lost night-watchman Dilruwan Perera off the first ball of the day, clean-bowled by Yasir, but the left-handed pair of Karunaratne and Thirimanne put on 69 runs for the fourth wicket.
With the hosts just 15 runs ahead, left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz had Thirimanne caught low at first slip by Younus Khan to keep interest alive going into the lunch break.
Sri Lanka suffered a massive blow off the second ball after resumption when Mathews was controversially given out caught at short leg by TV umpire Chris Gaffaney.
Karunaratne’s patience after a vigil of more than four hours at the crease ran out when he attempted a big hit off Yasir, missed the line and was smartly stumped by an agile Sarfraz.
The second Test starts at the P Sara Oval in Colombo on Thursday.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2015.
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