GALLE: Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi led an inspired attack to bowl out Sri Lanka for 222 but the hosts hit back with two wickets before stumps on the opening day of the first Test here at the Galle International Stadium on Saturday.

The tourists reached 24 for two at the close of play after losing their openers Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique.

Azhar Ali, on three, and skipper Babar Azam, on one, were batting at close of play with Pakistan still trailing by 198 runs.

Fast bowler Kasun Rajitha trapped Imam leg before wicket for two and Prabath Jayasuriya took down Abdullah for 13 with his left-arm spin on a day dominated by the bowlers.

Left-arm fast bowler Shaheen stood out with figures of 4-58 but Dinesh Chandimal’s attacking 76 and a late cameo of 36 by Maheesh Theekshana gave the hosts a fighting total on a pitch expected to aid spinners.

“That’s the beauty of Test cricket, sometimes tailenders and sometimes lower-order batsmen look like proper batsmen,” Shaheen told reporters.

“We to get them out under 150-160, but the last few batsmen played well. Chandimal played well.”

The hosts were tottering at 133-8 but added 89 runs for the final two wickets including a 44-run stand by Theekshana and Chandimal, who hit 10 fours and one six.

Shaheen wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Theekshana in the final session of play.

“They bowled really well,” said Chandimal. “What we need to do is to get the positives from this innings and take it to the next innings.”Former captain Chandimal said early wickets will decide the course of the match on Sunday’s day two and a lead of about 40 can make the hosts gain more ground.

Shaheen struck in the third over of the day to send back skipper Dimuth Karunaratne for one, and leg-spinner Yasir Shah soon combined with the quick bowlers to have Sri Lanka in trouble after they elected to bat.

Oshada Fernando and Kusal Mendis attempted to rebuild the innings in a 49-run partnership but Yasir, who is making a comeback to the team after a thumb injury that kept him out since August last year, broke through.

Yasir got Kusal caught behind for 21 and Oshada soon followed his partner back to the pavilion in the next over when pace bowler Hasan Ali cut short the opener’s stay on 35.

Angelo Mathews then fell for a 15-ball duck as Yasir got the former captain caught at mid-on.

“He’s a very good bowler,” said Chandimal. “We had a plan for him. We are not going to give him too much respect either.”

Shaheen struck twice after lunch and fellow quick Naseem Shah and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz took a wicket each.

Chandimal smashed 19-year-old Naseem for three straight boundaries to bring up his fifty and offer some cheer to the weekend crowd.

Chandimal, who made an unbeaten 206 in Sri Lanka’s series-levelling Test win over Australia earlier this week, finally fell to a good catch by Yasir at cover with Ali taking his second wicket.

But Theekshana played a defiant knock in just his second Test and put on 45 runs for the last wicket with Rajitha, unbeaten on 12.

Meanwhile, the 32-year-old Chandimal credited support from friends and family in helping him get back among the runs after being in and out of the national side.

“You have got to be mentally strong if you are playing Test cricket,” said Chandimal, who averages more than 42 in 68 Tests.

“I have been out of the side at times. That makes me stronger. You have to score runs to remain in the side. So I thought about the technique and how to keep myself not distracted and grab the opportunity when it came.”

Chandimal has had a rough time after being sacked as Sri Lanka skipper in 2019 following his team’s thrashing in Australia.

The senior batsman has since failed to secure a regular place in the side in all formats, but his recent return to form has allowed him to reflect on his struggles.

“You need help during those tough times. I get a lot of support from my family, my wife, coaches, team mates and my friends. I am glad I got that,” he said.

“When you are down you need support like that. If people are criticising it’s difficult. We don’t want to fail and we need support. Happy that I contributed.”

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA (1st Innings):O. Fernando c Rizwan b Hasan 35D. Karunaratne b Shaheen 1K. Mendis c Rizwan b Yasir 21A. Mathews c Naseem b Yasir 0D. Chandimal c Yasir b Hasan 76D. de Silva b Shaheen 14N. Dickwella c Agha b Shaheen 4R. Mendis c Rizwan b Naseem 11P. Jayasuriya lbw b Nawaz 3M. Theekshana c Rizwan b Shaheen 38K. Rajitha not out 2EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, NB-3) 7TOTAL (all out, 66.1 overs) 222FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Karunaratne), 2-60 (K. Mendis), 3-60 (Oshada), 4-68 (Mathews), 5-99 (de Silva), 6-103 (Dickwella), 7-130 (R. Mendis), 8-133 (Jayasuriya), 9-177 (Chandimal), 10-222 (Theekshana)BOWLING: Shaheen 14.1-3-58-4; Hasan 12-2-23-2, Naseem 13-0-53-1 (nb3), Yasir 21-4-66-2, Nawaz 6-2-18-1

PAKISTAN (1st Innings):Abdullah Shafique lbw b Jayasuriya 13Imam-ul-Haq lbw b Rajitha 2Azhar Ali not out 3Babar Azam not out 1EXTRAS (W-5) 5TOTAL (for two wickets, 18 overs) 24FALL OF WICKETS: 1-12 (Imam-ul-Haq), 2-21 (Shafique)STILL TO BAT: Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Nawaz, Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem ShahBOWLING (to-date): Rajitha 5-2-11-1 (5w); Theekshana 9-4-11-0; Jayasuriya 4-3-2-1

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2022