SL vs Pak, 2nd Test: Pakistan have taken over the control in the second Test against Sri Lanka on day 3 and they are heading towards a 2-0 clean sweep against the hosts.
Opener Abdullah Shafique hits his career-best score of 201 and his first double-century in his Test career. Pakistan has aggregated a mammoth lead of 397 against Sri Lanka on the third day of the second and last Test. Pakistan were 563-5 at the time of stumps on day 3 at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
Shafique’s double century came off 326 deliveries and contained 19 fours and four sixes. He surpassed his previous career-best Test score of 160 and hit his maiden double-century. Earlier in the first Test, Saud Shakeel had made the record of scoring a double century in Sri Lanka for the first time.
Soon after completing his double-century, Shafique took on Prabath Jayasuriya but failed to clear the ground and ended up giving his catch in Dilshan Madushanka’s hand.
Pakistani batters are in some ridiculous form this year, they are putting their complete effort to qualify for the WTC final this time. With a Test win and 100 percent PCT score, they are topping the chart of this WTC cycle.
Sri Lanka bowlers were toiling hard on the ground but they couldn’t get what they were looking for. They were clueless against Pakistani batters and also their bowlers were unable to get the benefit from the batting-friendly pitch. Not to forget that, on the same pitch, the hosts were bowled out for a low total of 166 in the first innings and nearing a 2-0 series defeat.
Drop catches have already caused much harm to Sri Lanka in this series. Shakeel was dropped twice in Galle and he went on to score a double-hundred. Jayasuriya had dropped a catch of Shafique when he was at 42 and now he scored a double-hundred.
Shafique added some momentum providing partnerships to the Pakistan team. He first added 89 runs with Babar Azam (39) for the third wicket before Babar was given lbw to Jayasuriya. This was a record 6th time out of 7 interactions when Prabath Jayasuriya dismissed Pakistan’s Captain. Later, he yet again made a solid 109-run partnership with Saud Shakeel (57) for the fourth wicket.
Saud Shakeel has already his Test career on a promising note. He has already 850 plus runs in his 13 innings of Test appearances.
Agha Salman, who had missed his well-deserved century in the first Test, didn’t miss the opportunity this time. Salman hit 15 fours and a six in his 148-ball blitz. At the other end, Mohammad Rizwan was batting on 37 while Salman was on 132 after replacing Sarfaraz Ahmed, who had a concussion after being hit on the back of his helmet while trying to duck under a bouncer from Asitha Fernando.
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