LANKA CALL THE SHOTS
The end is nigh and is just round the corner, unless Pakistan conjure something miraculous or Sri Lanka mess it up from here on.
But then, if Sunday is anything to go by, a miracle seems like a mirage and an oasis in the desert. Pakistan are on a downward spiral, while the Lankans will be more than a happy lot by the end of Tuesday.
The UAE — Pakistan’s fortress will be a fortress no more after a manic batting performance on the third day of the second day-night Test in Dubai saw them in all sorts of trouble. Pakistan could only muster 262, 21 runs behind the followon target of 283. Despite a cushion of 220, Sri Lanka didn’t enforce the follow-on and were left to see out the remaining 15 in the night.
Earlier, the Pakistan openers Sami Aslam and Shan Masood, who had weathered the storm and saw them through to the close on Friday night, couldn’t carry that forward.
Resuming on 51 for no loss, Masood went on to become debutant Lahiru Gamage’s first victim in Test cricket after seeing his furniture disturbed by the pacer, in the sixth over day. It was to get worse as Aslam followed his partner in the next over, leg before to off-spinner Dilruwan Perera, after a decent 39.
There was no end to Pakistan’s wobble with Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam gone soon enough to leave them in a real spot of bother. It was a bit of a lazy shot, a whip to the onside from Azam, considering the tea break was lurking. Azhar Ali, who had made a monumental 302 in the first day-night Test in the UAE against the West Indies, was left to summon that type of an innings here. After they took tea at 115 for four, 367 runs in arrears, a session which saw them crawl to 64 runs for the loss of four wickets in 28 overs, Azhar and Haris Sohail put their heads down to put out the fire.
Azhar and Sohail, who showed some positive intent by smacking two sixes, squeezed together 71 runs for the fifth wicket. But an Azhar epic, just when Pakistan so needed one, wasn’t going to happen with the 32-year-old leg before to Rangana Herath on 59, eight minutes before the dinner break. The dinner must have felt light with Pakistan 186 for five, 296 adrift with Sohail on 38 and captain Sarfraz Ahmed on five.
The damage had been controlled just a little bit with Pakistan scoring 71 runs in 27 overs with the loss of a wicket. Sarfraz ran up a 14-ball 14 before joining the rest of his mates in a despondent dressing room. The injured Mohammad Amir, Haris Sohail, who made 56, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah then followed as Pakistan found themselves in choppy waters.