72 runs off 94 balls – Safraz Ahmed

A fighting knock from wicketkeeper batsman Safraz Ahmed once again pushed Pakistan out of what could have been havoc when he held their innings together with an unbeaten 72 runs off 94 balls as Pakistan finished the second day of the third and final test on 209-9 here in Pallekele yesterday.
Ahmed walked in when Pakistan were four down for 91 runs. Although wickets continued to tumble at the other end, Sarfraz scored his half century in just 57 balls. He did his best batting with the tail foregoing many singles as he guided the visitors past 200, which seemed out of reach when they were 152 for 7 at one stage.
Right arm fast bowler Dammika Prasad was the early destroyer of Pakistan’s top order as he removed opener Shan Masood and ice-cool Asad Shafiq with his accurate bowling and scary face, while the pressure was created by Angelo Mathews and Nuwan Pradeep, which in fact caused the run-out of the visitor’s most experienced batman Younis Khan.
Khan became the second overseas batsman to have scored 1000 plus runs in Sri Lanka; of course after the maestro Sachin Tendulkar.
Prasad made some loud appeals at some close calls early on, with his eyes almost popping out, but it took him five overs to strike, as the umpire’s’ finger finally went up for a lbw shout. Dammika returned to break the threatening partnership between Yasir Shah and Ahmed after the duo had put on 45 runs for the 8th wicket.
Nuwan Pradeep removed other opener Ahmed Shehzad early, and struck again twice after the second rain interruption, which further damaged Pakistan’s hopes. He first removed set batsman Azhar Ali after the rain, and then dismissed skipper Misbah-ul-Haq who came to bat at number seven as he was suffering from a groin injury; he was trapped lbw. Ali was given out on 49, which was over-turned using DRS, but his fortune did not last long as he could add only 3 more runs to his tally. Ali become the highest scorer for Pakistan in Tests during the last five years with 3388 runs in 44 matches overtaking Younis Khan who had scored 3383 runs .
Leg spinner Shah completed his third five wicket haul in the series to take his tally to 22 wickets wrapping up Sri Lanka’s 1st innings for just 278 runs inside 4 overs yesterday.
He also becomes only the second bowler to take three or more five wicket hauls during a Sri Lankan series, the other being Shane Warne.
Play went on till 6:10 p.m. but only 67.5 overs could be bowled during the day due to several rain interruptions.

Scores

Sri Lanka 1st inning 278(89.5) (D.Karunaratne 130, Yasir Shah 5-78)

Pakistan 1st Innings
Shan Masood lbw b Prasad 13
Ahmed Shehzad C Chandimal b Pradeep 21
Azhar Ali not out 47
Younis Khan run out (Silva) 03
Asad Shafiq lbw b Prasad 15
Sarfraz Ahmed not out 72
Misbah –ul-Haq lbw b Pradeep 06
Ehsan Adil lbw b T.Kaushal 00
Yasir Shah C Chandimal b Prasad 18
Rahat Ali lbw b Kaushal 02
Imran Khan not out 00
Extras (lb4, nb2 ) 06
Total (9 wickets, 64.0overs) 209
To bat: Imran Khan
Fall of wicket: 1-32, 2-40, 3-45 , 4-92 , 5-135 (Ali, 44.6) , 6-151, 7-152, 8-197,9-202
Bowling: Dammka Prasad 19-1-78-3, Suranga Lakmal 14-1-64-0 , Nuwan Pradeep 14-5-26-3, Angelo Mathews 4-1-3-0, Tharindu Kaushal 13-0-34-2