Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis batted Pakistan out of the first Test in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, adding an unbroken 249 for the fifth wicket as Sri Lanka closed day three on 404 for 4, only 30 behind Pakistan’s 434 for 9 declared.
Pakistan began the day needing quick wickets to bring the follow-on into play. They took one all day. With two days left, a first-innings lead for Sri Lanka now looks more likely than a Pakistan win, and the draw is firmly in play.
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Key points
- Sri Lanka closed day three on 404 for 4 in 102 overs, 30 behind Pakistan’s 434 for 9 declared, after adding 290 runs on the day
- Dhananjaya de Silva (167 not out) and Kusal Mendis (117 not out) have added an unbroken 249, Sri Lanka’s best fifth-wicket stand against Pakistan
- Kusal Mendis became the first Sri Lankan to score a hundred in his first Test as captain; the second Test is also in Rawalpindi, from 17 November
De Silva’s 14th hundred, Mendis’s first as captain
De Silva finished unbeaten on 167 off 241 balls with 20 fours, his 14th Test hundred, his fourth against Pakistan and his second at this ground, AFP reported in Dawn. He should have gone for 38: Saud Shakeel dropped him off Razaullah.
Mendis, in his first Test as captain, was 117 not out with ten fours and four sixes, his 11th Test century. According to AFP, no Sri Lankan had scored a hundred in his first Test in charge.
Their stand of 249 is already Sri Lanka’s highest for the fifth wicket against Pakistan, beating the 207 Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan made in Lahore in 2009. The same pair hold Sri Lanka’s fifth-wicket record against anyone, 280 against Bangladesh in Colombo in 2005, The Express Tribune noted. De Silva and Mendis need 31 more on Thursday to pass it.
Abbas the only threat
Sri Lanka resumed on 114 for 3 and lost only Kamindu Mendis, who made 58 off 131 balls before edging Mohammad Abbas to wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori with the score on 155. He and De Silva had added 90 for the fourth wicket.
Abbas finished the day with 2 for 64. Debutant Saqib Khan, so sharp on the second evening, has 2 for 105 from 26 overs, and Razaullah went for 127 in 23 wicketless overs. Bad light ended play 15 minutes early.
“We put up a lot of effort but credit to the Sri Lankan pair on batting so confidently,” Abbas said afterwards. “We need to get them out quickly for a fightback.”
Kamindu Mendis said Sri Lanka were “in a good position” and that the first session on Thursday would decide how big a lead they could build.
What happens next
Day four starts with Sri Lanka 30 behind and six wickets in hand. If De Silva and Mendis bat through the morning again, Sri Lanka could take a lead of 100 or more into the afternoon, leaving Pakistan to bat out most of the last day.
The second and final Test starts on 17 November, also in Rawalpindi. The PCB moved it from Lahore on Tuesday, citing the weather after more than a week of heavy smog in the city, Dawn reported, so both Tests will be played at the same ground.
Market watch
- Three days have produced 838 runs for 13 wickets. Pakistan need ten wickets in Sri Lanka’s innings and then a chase, in under two days, so the draw is now the result to beat.
- De Silva and Mendis are both set past 100. In session markets, the first hour on Thursday is the one to watch: one early wicket brings in a new batter, but Pakistan have taken only one wicket since Wednesday morning.
- For next week’s second Test, the same ground has yielded 434 for 9 and 404 for 4 so far. That points to big first-innings totals again unless the surface is changed.
For more, see the latest cricket predictions and today’s fixtures in our match centre.
Top image: Photo: Shehanw / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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Macaela Becker
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