Captain Babar Azam made a defiant 119, just before Pakistan were dismissed for 218 on day two of the opening Test match against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Babar Azam alone took the tourists to only four runs shy of the Sri Lankan record of 222 in a 70 runs in the tenth wicket stand along together with Naseem Shah. Shah managed five not-out from the 52 ball in Galle.
Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya scored his third consecutive haul that included five wickets and more, which rattled the opposition’s batsmen, who fell to 85-7 at lunch, before bouncing back to 148-9 in 2nd session.
Azam made his seventh Test century , scoring the score of four and a single off the spinner of mystery Maheesh Theekshana, who finally took the star batsman to in a lbw position to end his Pakistan game in the last session.
Azam received help from lower-order batsmen like Yasir Shah (18), Hasan Ali (17) and Naseem As Pakistan scored 133 runs in the last three wickets.
Azam was able to shield Number 11 Naseem by taking the ball in front of most of the balls with a brazen display of hitting.
He struck quick bowler Kasun Rajitha with three straight boundaries, and then an eight and four from the hands of Theekshana and Jayasuriya.
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In the case of Sri Lanka, it was the first taste of themselves after they recovered from 133-8 on Saturday after Pakistan left-arm fast Shaheen Afridi picked up four wickets.
Pakistan began the day at 24 for 2, after play began thirty minutes late due to rain. Azhar Ali was able to only last three balls before getting caught in the lbw position by Jayasuriya.
Salman Ali Agha’s debut only lasted 15 balls before he had to be out leg due to a slide delivery from Jayasuriya after scoring five.
Jayasuriya 30, who was 30 at the time, struck in successive deliveries to eliminate Mohammad Nawaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi. Yasir was able to get the hat-trick ball.
