Sri Lanka’s moments of insanity give Pakistan early honours in second Test

By Shehan Daniel at the SSC 

An innings of déjà vu, littered with moments of insanity ended with Sri Lanka bowled out for 166 and Pakistan taking early honours in the second Test at the SSC grounds on the back of half-centuries Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood.

By the end of the first day, Pakistan, with their new attacking approach to batting – lacking the pizzazz of England’s famed Bazball but certainly carrying its aggressive intent – were 145 for 2 in 28.3 overs before bad light brought an early end to play, Shafique leading the charge unbeaten on 74 off 99 balls. 

Pakistan’s first innings deficit of 21 runs and scoring rate of above 5 an over only underlines just how frivolous Sri Lanka had been earlier, on a pitch that had very little by way of assistance to bowlers.

It was a stark contrast to how Sri Lanka batted, where much like their first innings in Galle, the hosts left their middle order with a mountain to climb, losing four wickets for 34 runs, mirroring the position they found themselves in last week when they were tottering on 54 for 4 inside the first session of the series.

If that is déjà vu, then the manner in which the home team folded inside two sessions could only be described as epitomizing Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity – repeatedly gifting Pakistan with wicket-taking opportunities and expecting them to not gleefully accept it. 

The first two dismissals were examples of that, Nishan Madushka brilliantly run out attempting a needless single and Kusal Mendis rightly going hard at a loose ball off-stump, but wrongly picking out the fielder at point. 

The next two breakthroughs were however, down to the sheer brilliance of Pakistan’s young pace bowler
Naseem Shah.

Shah toyed with Angelo Mathews, the most experienced player in this Sri Lanka team, by lulling the veteran to hang his bat out to deliveries well outside off-stump, before a change of line brought the ball closer to the off-stump, drawing an edge that was gladly collected by wicket-keeper Sharfraz Ahmed.

Shah then got through the normally unbreachable defense of Dimuth Karunaratne, with a peach of a delivery that seamed into the left hander to find the inside edge and then the stumps, as the hosts slipped to 34 for 4.

All the talk after the defeat in the first Test was about Sri Lanka’s fielding needing an added focus, but coach Chris Silverwood on Sunday said his team needed to be better in all
three departments.

While the jury is still out on if Sri Lanka’s catching has indeed improved – the early signs are not too promising after Prabath Jayasuriya grassed a chance off his own bowling – the fact they found themselves in a worse situation than they were last week, perhaps indicates that there are bigger holes to plug with the batting.
That de Silva was the only batsman who looked comfortable and eventually ended as the team’s top scorer was another case of déjà vu in this series, after his scores of 122 and 82 in Galle.

He was the only Sri Lankan batsman who looked comfortable, striking in style nine boundaries and a six, and his partnership with Dinesh Chandimal appeared to have Sri Lanka’s innings back on track.

Both would be guilty of their own moments of insanity though, surrendering their wickets to soft dismissals.

Looking for a breakthrough as the partnership grew, Pakistan captain Babar Azam turned to Naseem Shah to bowl short to a heavily packed leg side field. 
Chandimal played right into it, pulling and hooking with control before top edging a catch to the fielder at mid-wicket.

That ended an 85-run partnership, and opened the door for the visitors once again, who duly accepted the invitation, with Abrar Ahmed removed Sadeera Samarawickrama caught at short leg, the third time the batter has been dismissed in that fashion in three innings this series. 

Ahmed then made the vital breakthrough of the in-form de Silva, caught towards the midwicket boundary, taking a risk that was perhaps emboldened by a six he scored earlier in the over, only to find Saud Shakeel who completed an excellent catch.

Ramesh Mendis hit a flurry of boundaries to score 27 off 44, but the visitors ensured there would be no let up as they restricted Sri Lanka to 166.
It was a just reward for the visitors who, despite not getting much help from the pitch, bowled with discipline and fielded with purpose, with Shah’s 3 for 41 and Abrar’s haul of 4 for 69 proving instrumental in the hosts being bundled out, their lowest score batting first at this particular venue.