Sri Lanka bats themselves into position of strength

Wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella catches Nauman Ali for one

Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva during their half-century partnership

Ramesh Mendis scalps another Pakistani wicket on his way to a five-fer

• Leads overall by 323 runs with five wickets intact

Sri Lanka recovered from losing four wickets in the afternoon session to end the third day of the second cricket Test against Pakistan strongly at 176-5 in their second innings, an overall lead of 323 with five wickets in hand at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

An unfinished 59-run sixth wicket partnership between skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and his deputy Dhananjaya de Silva has given Sri Lanka a chance of setting Pakistan something in excess of over 400 to chase in the fourth innings and press for a win which would enable them to square the two-match series 1-all. Pakistan won the first Test by four wickets chasing 342.

Until Karunaratne and De Silva came together the game hung in the balance with Sri Lanka holding onto an overall lead of 262 with five wickets in hand. However, in the final session brought forward by bad light with 19 overs yet to be bowled for the day, the partnership developed into one that has more or less snatched away the match from Pakistan.

Karunaratne batting with back spasms and being treated by the physio, came to bat at the fall of the fourth wicket as he had not taken the field during the entire Pakistan first innings. While Karunaratne held up one end batting 87 minutes for 27*, De Silva played some eloquent drives and pulls to be 30* off 52 balls inclusive of six fours. Karunaratne is 11 runs away from completing 6,000 Test runs and if he gets there will become the sixth Sri Lankan batsman to achieve the landmark.  

Pakistan had their best session in the afternoon when they captured four wickets while Sri Lanka added 87 runs, and in the second over after resumption picked up the prize wicket of Dinesh Chandimal for 21, edging a drive to wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan off Naseem Shah.

The top five batsmen all got into double figures but none stayed long enough to make a substantial contribution. Angelo Mathews playing his 100th Test was unfortunate to be dismissed for 35 when he was given out caught by the DRS system that showed a very thin spike.     

Niroshan Dickwella got a rare opportunity to open the innings and get to that elusive maiden Test hundred but perished after scoring 15 when he fished at a delivery from Naseem Shah to be caught behind. Having kept wickets for almost 90 overs whether opening with Dickwella was the right choice was questionable although the other option was to open with Kusal Mendis.

The introduction of Yasir Shah into the attack produced a second wicket for Pakistan when he trapped Oshada Fernando lbw for 19 with his first delivery. Kusal Mendis survived 30 balls for 15 before falling lbw to left-armer Mohammad Nawaz on the sweep shot.  Mathews and Chandimal took the score to 100 when Mathews was dismissed after Pakistan reviewed the not out decision given by the umpire.   

Pakistan’s last three wickets added 40 runs, 32 of them coming in partnership between Yasir Shah (26) and Hasan Ali (21). Off-spinner Ramesh Mendis captured two of the three wickets to fall to record his third five-fer in 10 Tests with Prabath Jayasuriya accounting for three. 

When questioned what sort of target Sri Lanka are looking at to set Pakistan to chase in the fourth innings Ramesh Mendis said: “We haven’t decided on that. I guess the coach and captain will take that decision. Maybe 400 is a safe score. The wicket is bit slower than the first couple of days. We need to bat as deep as possible and get the maximum that’s possible.”

Naseem Shah the Pakistan speedster who has taken two of the five Sri Lankan wickets to fall in the second innings said: “They have about 323 and we will try to restrict them and get a target of around 350-360. Bowl them out soon tomorrow and stay positive in the chase. Till now the pitch doesn’t look that it will turn big on day four and five but you never know, we will have to see. The pitch in the previous Test turned more and this is not too fast as well, so fingers crossed.”

Play on the fourth day today will commence at 9.45 am with 98 overs scheduled to be bowled.