Ramesh five-for, batters put Lanka in driver’s seat against Pakistan
GALLE: ATER an excellent five-for (5/47) from Ramesh Mendis, baters made some handy contributions and put Sri Lanka in the driver’s seat against Pakistan at the end of a curtailed third day of the second Test at Galle International Stadium, here on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka were 176/5 in their second innings, leading Pakistan by 323 runs at stumps on Day 3 with Dimuth Karunaratne (27) and Dhananjaya de Silva (30) unbeaten on crease. Skip perk ar una rat ne bat led through back pain. “The wicket is a bit slower than the first couple of days,” spinner Ramesh, who claimed five wickets to help bowl out Pakistan for 231 in the opening session, told reporters.
“We need to bat as deep as possible and get maximum runs possible. This is a good batting wicket.”
Ramesh said the hosts would likely be safe with a lead of 400 and believes the captain and coach Chris Silverwood will decide on a possible declaration if they keep bating.
Pakistan’s highest chase in Sri Lanka came in 2015 when they made a target of 377 in Pallekele, and the tourists chased down a Galle record of 342 in the series opener.
Sri Lanka were in trouble at 117-5 when Karunaratne, who stayed off the field during Pakistan’s innings, and De Silva got down to the grind.
De Silva took on the opposition bowlers and hit six boundaries with Karunaratne happy to play anchor. The skipper got help from the physio in between his knock. Karunaratne rotated the strike and also hit two boundaries including a reverse sweep for four off leg-spinner Yasir Shah.
Pakistan had earlier ratled the Sri Lankan batting with key wickets including Angelo Mathews in his 100th Test ater the former captain, who made 35, atempted to rebuild the innings with Dinesh Chandimal.
Off-spinner Agha Salman got Mathews out for his maiden Test wicket ater Pakistan reviewed the umpire’s call, with ultra-edge technology confirming a spike when the ball passed the bat and into the hands of slip.
Mathews walked back shaking his head ater failing to capitalise on another good start in his landmark Test, ater he made 42 in the first innings.
The in-form Chandimal, with scores of 206 not out, 76, 94 not out and 80 in his last four innings, looked good on 21 but fell caught behind off fast bowler Naseem Shah soon ater tea.
Naseem, who took three wickets in Sri Lanka’s first innings, had struck first with the wicket of Niroshan Dickwella, who fell for 15 ater opening in place of the ailing Karunaratne.
“They have a lead of about 320 and we will try to restrict them and get a target of around 350-360,” said Naseem.
“Bowl them out soon tomorrow and stay positive in the chase. It doesn’t look that it will turn big on day four and five, but you never know.”
Pakistan’s innings ended ater the tourists resumed the day on 191-7, in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings of 378.
Off-spinner Ramesh sent back Nauman Ali and then trapped overnight batsman Yasir lbw for 26 to record a third five-wicket haul in his 10th Test to wrap up the innings.
Pakistan lead the two-match series 1-0 and Sri Lanka are looking to draw level on a pitch which has favoured the batsmen so far.
DON’T THINK PAKISTAN CAN WIN T20 WORLD CUP, If BABAR DOESN’T SCORE RUNS, SAYS PONTING: former Australian captain Ricky Ponting feels that Pakistan can’t win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup later this year if their captain Babar Azam doesn’t have a great tournament with the bat.
Pakistan’s Waqar Younis recently said his former team had an excellent chance of claiming a second T20 World Cup title in Australia, but Ponting isn’t so sure.
While the two-time World Cup-winning captain acknowledges the class of star pacer Shaheen Afridi and the guile of Mohammad Rizwan at the top of the order, he said their bating line-up is too reliant on captain and No 1 ranked bater Babar.
“If Babar doesn’t have a great tournament, I don’t think they can win,” Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.
“I saw him up close and personal a couple of years ago out here in a Test series against Australia and I said it then, I thought the sky was the limit for this guy as far as Test match bating (was concerned) and, if anything, he’s probably got beter and beter in the last couple of years.”