Pakistan will look to make use of its new-found batting aggression to double up towards Sri Lanka within the second Test ranging from Monday, after securing its first long-format victory for a yr.
Pakistan arrived in Sri Lanka and not using a Test win to its title in 12 months however regardless of a wobbly closing innings chase a four-wicket victory in Galle means it wants solely a attract Colombo to win the two-match sequence.
SL vs PAK 1st Test: Pakistan beats Sri Lanka by 4 wickets, goes 1-0 up
A decided effort to lift its run fee with a extra constructive method paid dividends, scoring at greater than 4.5 per over for a lot of its first innings and placing the Sri Lankan bowlers beneath stress.
It is an method that has echoes of England’s new “Bazball” model. The first hundred of Saud Shakeel’s double century got here off simply 129 balls, his 177-run partnership with Agha Salman laying the inspiration for Pakistan’s 149-run first-innings lead.
After the final Test cycle, Pakistan’s administration was “very firm” that one of many causes the crew was not successful matches was that “we weren’t scoring at such a high rate as the opposition”, Shan Masood had mentioned.
There had been a “concentrated effort” at pre-tour coaching camps in Lahore and Karachi, he added.
“The emphasis was on scoring runs just to sort of put the opposition under pressure and that put us back in the game,” mentioned Masood, who scored 39 off 30 balls within the first innings in Galle.
Pakistan could need to embrace one other seamer because the Singhalese Sports Club monitor is thought to supply bounce and motion, however must contemplate whether or not to make modifications to a successful aspect.
Dropped catches and poor DRS critiques
Sri Lanka must enhance its fielding effort if it goals to win the match and draw the sequence.
Other than Dhananjaya de Silva – who made 122 and 82 – its batsmen didn’t ship in Galle, lots of them moving into the 20s and 30s however not constructing on the begins.
The host shall be eager to have Asitha Fernando again within the aspect forward of Kasun Rajitha, who took 1-77 in 19 first-innings overs and was not known as on in Pakistan’s second innings.
Fernando needed to sit out the primary Test, recovering from dengue fever. Sri Lanka’s catching was poor – Shakeel was dropped on 93 and 139 – and the captain took poor critiques.
Dimuth Karunaratne acknowledged invoking DRS was his name as captain however mentioned he made his choices “based on the feedback from the bowler and wicket-keeper.”
“The misjudging of reviews is a loss for the team and can be crucial during a tight game. We will have to focus on making the right use of reviews and what could be done differently,” he mentioned.
Sri Lanka has received 20 of the 43 Tests performed at SSC and misplaced solely 9, together with the latest Test it hosted, towards England 5 years in the past. Pakistan has performed on the venue on six events and has received one, and misplaced one with the remainder drawn.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com