Imperious Chandimal takes Sri Lanka to 315/6 on day one

Dunith Wellalage was handed his Test cap by former captain Angelo Mathews

Dinesh Chandimal was once again in imperious form scoring a fluent 80

Oshada Fernando gets a pat from his captain Dimuth Karunaratne after completing a 50

Sri Lanka had one of their best days with the bat reaching a respectable 315-6 on the opening day of the second cricket Test against Pakistan at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Dinesh Chandimal in domineering form and going through a purple patch in his career was once again Sri Lanka’s top scorer with a fluent innings of 80 off 137 balls (9 fours, 2 sixes), but the Lankan batters were guilty of indiscretionary shot selection that allowed Pakistan to make a comeback each time they looked like running away with the game. Pakistan also had their lapses with a couple of chances going down mainly through the hands of captain Babar Azam who missed Angelo Mathews at 36 and Niroshan Dickwella at 24. 

Five of the six batsmen made over 30, but none went onto make a big score that would have given Sri Lanka the edge over Pakistan after choosing to bat first on winning the toss for the second time in the series. As it is, unless Sri Lanka get to a score of over 400, Pakistan who are leading 1-0 in the two-Test series are sure to capitalise on a wicket that is still suited for batting and pile up a big first innings score that would put the pressure back on Sri Lanka.

Oshada Fernando who got a ripping delivery from Mohammad Nawaz and Kusal Mendis who was unfortunate to be run out at the non-striker’s end could count themselves as unlucky, as for the rest, all got starts but failed to convert them into a sizeable score.

Oshada played an excellent knock for 50 with positive intent hitting three sixes one of which with he brought up his half century off 69 balls. But unfortunately for him in Galle you need some luck as well to convert those starts into big ones and Oshada didn’t have it. The next delivery from left-armer Mohammad Nawaz was too good for him as it found the outside edge of his bat to the wicket-keeper. During his fine innings Oshada passed 1,000 Test runs.

Pakistan captured another quick wicket before the lunch break when Kusal Mendis backed up too far at the non-striker’s end and was runout for three failing to ground his bat when a powerful drive from Dimuth Karunaratne ricocheted off bowler Agha Salman’s hand. Karunaratne also got out after the break when well set, attempting to reverse sweep Yasir Ali and ending up giving a catch to cover point after scoring 40 off 90 balls.

Angelo Mathews playing his 100th Test and Chandimal stitched together a partnership of 75 before Nauman Ali found the edge of Mathews’ bat to dismiss him for 42 scored off 106 balls (5 fours). Mathews made 42 and 27 on his Test debut against the same opposition and on the same ground 13 years ago. 

Dhananjaya de Silva played effortlessly for 33 helping Chandimal add a further 63 for the fifth wicket, before missing a delivery with the second new ball from speedster Naseem Shah and losing his middle stump.

Chandimal simply threw his wicket away with an injudicious shot attempting to hit over mid-on but only succeeding in getting a top edge to short third man. In his three-hour stay at the crease Chandimal had never looked in trouble and was in good nick for a big score. To see him get out was a ridiculously wasted effort.

Dickwella under pressure to score runs and teenage debutant Dunith Wellalage saw Sri Lanka through to the close without any further misfortune. Dickwella should make use of his luck to be dropped at 24 to go an make a big score with the tail. He is unbeaten on 42 off 43 balls and has so far avoided playing the reverse sweep shot that has largely led to his downfall. 

Sri Lanka and Pakistan made two changes each – Sri Lanka giving Wellalage his first Test cap at the age of 19 and recalling fast bowler Asitha Fernando. They replaced Maheesh Theekshana who has an injured spin finger and Kasun Rajitha who was dropped. Pakistan replaced Azhar Ali and injured fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi with Fawad Alam and left-arm spinner Nauman Ali.