Sri Lanka clawed their way to 221-4 at lunch on Day 3 of the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, with Dhananjaya de Silva batting on an unbeaten 87 as the tourists tried to dent a 213-run first-innings deficit.
Pakistan had declared their first innings at 434-9 after 106.3 overs on Tuesday evening, built around Saud Shakeel’s 93 off 199 balls, Arafat Minhas’s 52 and debutant wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori’s 48, according to Dawn. Sri Lankan quicks Asitha Fernando and Dilshan Madushanka shared six wickets between them in that innings.
| Session | Score | Key Contributors |
|---|---|---|
| Pakistan 1st Innings (declared, Day 2) | 434-9 (106.3 overs) | Shakeel 93, Minhas 52, Ghori 48 |
| Sri Lanka 1st Innings, Day 2 close | 114-3 | Overnight |
| Sri Lanka 1st Innings, Day 3 lunch | 221-4 | De Silva 87*, Kamindu Mendis 58, Kusal Mendis 21* |
Resuming at 114-3, Sri Lanka lost Kamindu Mendis for 58 off 131 balls, caught by Ghori off Mohammad Abbas, but De Silva kept the innings moving, reaching his 21st Test half-century along the way, ARY News reported, citing AFP. De Silva survived a dropped catch on 38 as Pakistan’s seamers probed away without quite finishing the job. Mohammad Abbas finished the session with 2-33, while debutant Saqib Khan picked up 2-82 on his first appearance in Test whites.
The tourists still trail by a sizeable margin, and with two results-producing days left after Wednesday, both sides will be watching the Rawalpindi pitch closely for signs of turn or uneven bounce as the match wears on. Pakistan had opted to bat first and bat long after winning the toss, a plan that paid off with Shakeel and the middle order piling on runs before the hosts pulled the trigger on the declaration — a decision PakDaily covered in detail after Pakistan’s innings ended one short of a Shakeel century.
Our Opinion
Pakistan will be satisfied with a declaration built on genuine depth rather than one big score, but the inability to run through Sri Lanka’s top and middle order on a flat-looking Rawalpindi surface is the more instructive story of this Test so far; a bowling attack missing express pace has to work harder for its wickets, and De Silva’s calm, unhurried resistance is exactly the kind of innings that keeps a struggling batting unit like Sri Lanka’s in the contest — PCB’s selectors and team management would do well to watch whether Saqib Khan’s expensive but wicket-taking debut becomes a pattern worth persisting with or a one-off they quietly move past.
