Pallade Veneta - Dhananjaya de Silva guides Sri Lanka to 221-4 against Pakistan

RAWALIPADI: Former captain Dhananjaya de Silva led a Sri Lanka comeback with a gritty unbeaten 87 as the visitors reached 221-4 at lunch on Day 3 of the first cricket test against Pakistan on Wednesday. De Silva capitalized on a dropped catch on 38 and brought Sri Lanka within sight to avoid follow-on after Pakistan had declared its first innings at 434-9. Kusal Mendis, who took over the captaincy from de Silva in October, was not out on 21 at lunch as Pakistan's inexperienced bowling attack struggled to penetrate with the old softer ball on greenish wicket. Veteran Mohammad Abbas (2-33) had the only success in the first session when Kamindu Mendis (58) feathered an edge to give wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori his third catch behind the wicket. The rest of the three bowlers — Razaullah and two debutants Saqib Khan (2-82) and Arafat Minhas — couldn't find much assistance of the wicket as de Silva combined in two solid half-century stands. Saqib's pace dropped down considerably with the older ball after the fast bowler had picked up two wickets with the new ball late on Day 2 with his impeccable line and length. Resuming on 114-3, Pakistan missed out an opportunity to make it 139-4 when Saud Shakeel dropped a regulation catch in the first slip off de Silva's lose drive. De Silva stretched the fourth-wicket stand with Kamindu Mendis to 90 before Abbas broke the stand. Captain Babar Azam turned to left-arm spin of Minhas in the latter half of the first session, but de Silva and Kusal continued to rotate strike by using their feet against the spinner and had added 66 runs for the unbroken fifth-wicket stand.

A.Fallone--PV