Pakistan openers respond strongly after Sri Lankan tail ensures first-innings lead

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Openers Abid Ali (32*) and Shan Masood (21*) ended the second day with Pakistan on 57/0 in 14 overs in their second innings.

Sri Lanka began the day on 64/3 in the first innings, with Lasith Embuldeniya (3*) and Angelo Mathews (8*) the overnight batsmen. Naseem Shah got some late inward movement to the left-hander earlier on, and almost had his first wicket when Embuldeniya pushed at a delivery in the 22nd over, only for Babar Azam to spill a straightforward chance at gully.

The duo had added 14 runs to their overnight score, when Mohammad Abbas sent Embuldeniya off a top edge to the slip cordon. Not long after, Mathews edged one behind to the wicket-keeper, becoming the fifth Sri Lankan wicket at the score at 80.

After that, Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal combined for a short recovery, battling 18 overs to build a 67-run stand. It was Shaheen Afridi who returned to break the partnership in his second spell, capturing his third wicket off a bouncer to de Silva.

Chandimal, at the other end, then found company in Niroshan Dickwella, along with whom he forged a 23-run stand till the tea break, also bringing the deficit down to 21 runs.

Shaheen and Abbas continued to jag the ball around off the pitch; one such delivery from Abbas moved appreciably on pitching and sneaked through the gap between his bat and pad, ending Dickwella’s stay on 21.

A flick by Dilruwan Perera, for two runs, levelled the scores, soon after which Chandimal punched a backfoot drive off Abbas to reach his fifty. Chandimal continued his charge from one end, drilling three fours from one Naseem over, the 70th of the innings, and was supported well by Perera at the other end, who did not shy from hitting Yasir Shah’s spin over the in field.

Chandimal’s vigil ended when he slapped one straight to point off Haris Sohail, but Perera helped himself to a little cameo towards the end, hitting six fours and a six to become Sri Lanka’s penultimate wicket to fall. Afridi bagged his maiden five-wicket haul by wrapping the innings with Lahiru Kumara’s dismissal soon after, but Perera's contribution was enough to take Sri Lanka's score to 271.

Pakistan’s openers Masood and Ali then put together a half-century stand inside 13 overs, defying all four Sri Lanka bowlers used in the dying stages of the evening. The wicket showed signs of further deterioration, with Karunaratne employing an over from off-spinner Perera alongside Embuldeniya’s left-arm spin, but the visitors couldn’t make any inroads before bad light forced stumps.