Pakistan v Sri Lanka, first Test: Session by session, Day 1

Osman Samiuddin is at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, covering the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan 46 for one, Sri Lanka 202

Despite a wicket off what turned out to be the last ball of the day, Pakistan consolidated the strong position their bowlers had put them in during the final session of the first day’s play against Sri Lanka at the Shaikh Zayed stadium. Having dismissed the tourists for 204 an hour or so after tea, Ahmed Shahzad, on debut, and Khurram Manzoor took Pakistan to 46, before Manzoor was run-out after a terrible mix-up. It was still the final little punctuation mark to two sessions of dominance.

Angelo Mathews had fought hard with the bat, putting up the resistance his top order had failed to show through the afternoon. His sprightly 91 took Sri Lanka above 200, with help from Shaminda Eranga in a 61-run stand that had begun to frustrate Pakistan.

Mathews farmed the strike wonderfully well with the last two wickets, though he was helped by some defensive field settings from Misbah-ul-Haq. Mathews was happy enough to refuse most runs, pick off boundaries where he could, and keep strike. He faced 34 of the last 39 balls of the innings, Pakistan unable to dismiss him or get last man Suranga Lakmal on strike.

It was left to Saeed Ajmal to pick up the final two wickets, Mathews last man out stumped, short of what would have been a deserved second Test hundred. He did, though, engineer 80 runs from the last two wickets.

In reply, Manzoor and Shahzad both looked solid; occasionally beaten, they picked off regular boundaries. Shahzad especially continued in the rich vein of ODI form that has seen his promotion to the Test side. But the problems of putting two new openers together repeatedly, as Pakistan have done – this was their seventh different opening partnership in recent Tests – told eventually.

Attempting a needless single of the Sachithra Senanayaka, Manzoor and Shahzad both hesitated, before Manzoor attempted to return to the striker’s end. He did not make it, much to Sri Lanka’s relief.

Sri Lanka 167 for eight at tea

Pakistan figured out why they chose to bowl only in the afternoon session on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Having gotten carried away with the grass on the surface in the morning and bowled the wrong lengths, Junaid Khan and debutante Bilawal Bhatti recalibrated their modes of attack after lunch and left Sri Lanka lurching at 167 for eight.

Bhatti triggered the collapse, dismissing the well-set Kaushal Silva four balls after lunch. There followed a particularly manic mini-spell, the kind Pakistani fast bowlers conjure up so well and so often. Mahela Jayawardene was first caught behind in Bhatti’s next over, only for TV replays to show he had over-stepped. Next ball he got his foot right, pitched the ball much further up and got another edge, which Adnan Akmal made no mistake with. Just before the sequence, Bhatti might have had Jayawardene caught on the strangle down the leg-side, though Pakistan chose not to review it then.

Two balls after Jayawardene, Bhatti induced a loose waft from Dinesh Chandimal, to Mohammad Hafeez at slip and Sri Lanka had lost three wickets in eight balls, for just five runs.

Now pumped up, Pakistan got the big one soon after, Kumar Sangakkara slapping a length ball straight to point. He was gone for just 16, a considerable bonus given that he averages just under 90 every time he steps out to face Pakistani bowling.

That was the signal for Junaid to take over against his favourite Test opponents. Prasanna Jayawardene was caught behind, before he dismissed Sachithra Senanayaka and Rangana Herath in successive deliveries; Herath was bowled by a beauty, swinging in and beating him for pace. Sri Lanka, in the blink of an eye, had lost seven for 57 since lunch.

Captain Angelo Mathews ensured Pakistan did not bowl them out, providing breezy resistance and keeping Sri Lanka’s hopes of some kind of total just about alive. He benefitted from Junaid and Bilawal’s spells finishing and with attacking fields leaving plenty of space, launched into some limited-overs shots as he brought up fifty just before the break. That at least provided the captain some personal satisfaction in a session of collective failure.

Sri Lanka 66 for one at lunch

Sri Lanka put their heads down on the first morning of their first Test in six months, working their way solidly through a potentially tricky session at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi and lunching at 66 for one.

That represented a session victory, Angelo Mathews having lost the toss and been put in to bat on a pitch with enough grass on it to push Pakistan into picking three fast bowlers. They gave a debut to Bilawal Bhatti and called in Rahat Ali, Umar Gul not being thought fit enough to last five days.

Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva began with eminent good sense. They faced plenty of movement in the first few overs from Junaid Khan and Rahat, but left what needed leaving and cashed in on whatever they could.

It turned out there was plenty to cash in on in the first hour; each time either bowler erred too full in length, Karunaratne used his height and reach to good effect. A few times he clipped through midwicket. If there was fortune from a couple of airy edges early on, there was resolute batting to make up for it.

Junaid’s first spell ended after just three overs, which gave Bhatti an early bowl. Silva welcomed him to the big boy’s club with a pleasant square drive in his very first over. In his next he unfurled a beautiful cover drive and the pair continued mostly untroubled; the first maiden of the day was bowled in the 11th over, an indication of how comfortable they had become. Suddenly, as Sri Lanka brought up the fifty in the 14th over, Misbah-ul-Haq’s decision to bowl was looking overconfident.

Pakistan tightened up after the drinks interval, however, until when Rahat was easily the most impressive of their bowlers. Junaid switched ends and found the right length and in his third over back, finally reaped the reward. It was nota great ball to Karunaratne, but the catch by Asad Shafiq by gully was outstanding, among the best Pakistan have taken this year.

Runs slowed to a trickle thereafter, only 16 runs coming in the second hour. Pakistan had fought back, but the session was Sri Lanka’s.

osamiuddin@thenational.ae