SL ahead with Paks trailing by 182

A patient century from opener Kaushal Silva (125) together with disciplinary bowling efforts gave upper hand to Sri Lanka against Pakistan as the visitors were trailing by 182 runs with five wickets in hand when the rains came down and eventually ending with the close of play on the third day of the first Test match continued at Galle yesterday.
After three early wickets, two visiting veterans, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq got together and rebuilt the inning with a half century stand before off spinner Dilruwan Perera bowled out Younis Khan who charged down the wicket when on 47. Nuwan Pradeep struck six overs later to remove skipper as Misbah edging one which was caught well by first slip Kumar Sangakkara diving to his left.
Dhammika Prasad delivers a furious spell earlier on as he struck twice in his first two overs to remove Pakistan openers Mohammad Hafeez and Ahamed Shehzad. Left arm spinner Rangana Herath took 13 balls to strike, removing vice captain Azhar Ali for the 7th time when he was trapped lbw.
Earlier in the inning, ice cool Kaushal Silva showed tremendous patience for his second Test century, his first against a top eight team as he lead Sri Lanka to score 300 in the first inning. Resuming his inning from unbeaten 80 runs, Silva did not change his approach as he calmly moved to his century in 261 balls where intense celebrations began. Silva came down the wicket and played a boundary past extra cover against left arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar in the fourth ball of the 89th over to get to his century as he celebrated, while running and gesturing towards the dressing room.
Silva stood for 445 minutes, while wickets tumbled from other end before finally he mistimed a sweep against Babar and wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed did the rest with ease. Silva’s departure, as the ninth wicket for 125 included 16 fours and faced 300 balls during his inning.
Left arm pace man Wahab Riaz unleashed fury earlier on in the day as he took only 15 balls to strike bowling out skipper Angelo Mathews in the 5th over of the day for 19 runs. Riaz delivery from around the wicket, angling into the wicket which Mathews played away from his body got an inside edge that knocked off the stumps. Wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal was the second wicket of the day as he was bowled out by Babar for 23 in the 21st over of the day. Chandimal tried to cut a ball which came straight into the top of the middle stump as Babar claimed his first wicket. Kithuruwan Vithanage lasted only 21 balls as he misjudged a straight delivery from Mohammad Hafeez hitting it back to him. Hafeez claimed his second wicket which was again another left hander.
Sri Lanka’s last four wicket fell for just 39 runs as they registered their lowest first inning score in the last five years against Pakistan at home.

Scores

Sri Lanka 1st Innings
Dimuth Karunaratne c S. Ahemad b W. Riaz 21
Kaushal Silva c S. Ahemad b Z. Babar 125
Kumar Sangakkara c Y. Khan b W. Riaz 50
Lahiru Thirimanne c Z. Babar b M. Hafeez 08
Angelo Mathews b W. Riaz 19
Dinesh Chandimal b Z. Babar 23
Kithuruwan Vithanage c and b M. Hafeez 18
Dilruwan Perera c S. Ahmad b Yasir Shah 15
Dhammika Prasad b Z. Babar 00
Rangana Herath not out 06
Nuwan Pradeep c and b Y. Shah 04
Extras (lb 5, w2, nb4) 22
Total (all out, 109.3) 300
Fall of wicket: 1-30, 2-142, 3-154 ,4-189,5-226, 6- 261,6-261,7-277, 8-288,9-291, 10-300 Bowling: Junaid Khan 16-5-38-0(1w), Wahab Riaz 26-3-74-3(4nb,1w), Z. Babar 27-8-64-3 , Yasir Shah 30.3-6-79-2 , Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-40-2

Scores

Pakistan 1st Innings
Mohammad Hafeez c Karunaratne b Prasad 02
Ahmed Shehzad lbw Prasad 09
Azhar Ali lbw Herath 08
Younis Khan b Perera 47
Misbah-ul-Haq c Sangakkara b Pradeep 20
Asad Shafiq not out 14
Sarfraz Ahmad not out 15
Extras (nb3) 03
Total (for 5 wickets :41.4 overs) 118
Fall of wickets: 1-2 , 2-11, 3-35,4-86 ,5- 96
Bowling: Dhammika Prasad, 9-2-24-2 Nuwan Pradeep 9-1-36-1, Rangana Herath 12.4-3-33-1,Dilruwan Perera 9-2-23-1, Angelo Mathews 2-1-2-0