Istafa Ali
Saud Shakeel, a left-handed hitter, got another fifty on Wednesday. This made him the first player in the history of Test cricket to get a fifty in each of his first seven games.
In the second Sri Lankan Test, which took place at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo, the stylish hitter did it.
Before, Sunil Gavaskar of India, Saeed Ahmed of Pakistan, Basil Butcher of the West Indies, and Bert Sutcliffe of New Zealand all got 50s in their first six Tests.
Shakeel was also named Player of the Match in the first Test, which Pakistan won by four wickets in Galle last week. In the first test, he scored 208 runs without getting out, which was the best score of his career.
The left-hander is also only the second Pakistani player to hit a double century in his first Test match away from home.
Report on a game
Pakistan’s score was 178-2 when they started their third day of batting, giving them a lead of 12 runs.
At the time this story was written, the guests were ahead by 153 runs and had a score of 319-3. Abdullah Shafique, who batted first, kept up his great work and had scored more than 150 runs.
On the second day, heavy rain meant that only 10 overs could be played.
On Monday, at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, the hosts were out in two sets for only 166.
After Sri Lanka’s leader Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and chose to bat first, the team didn’t do well with the bat.
Sri Lanka’s top order was hurt by Naseem Shah (3-41) and Shaheen Afridi (1-44), and the home team’s score dropped to 36-4.
Sri Lanka’s best scorer was Dhananjaya de Silva, who had 57, but only two other players scored more than 10.
Shan Masood ran out Nishan Madushka and Prabath Jayasuriya with straight throws, which helped Pakistan keep doing well in the field.
When Pakistan came out to bat, they scored quickly.
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Imam-ul-Haq got six runs before being caught at gully, but Shafique and Masood (51) put on 108 runs quickly to keep the guests in charge.
Masood made a mistake with a pull shot, which gave Asitha Fernando his second wicket.
