Sri Lanka kisses goodbye to chance after Pakistan defeat

Niroshan Dickwella and Asela Gunaratne figured prominently in the highest run chase in Sri Lanka when the home team pursued 388 to win by four wickets against Zimbabwe at the R. Premadasa Stadium in 2017 

Sri Lanka has kissed goodbye to the little outside chance they had of making it to the ICC World Test Championship final following their four-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the first Test concluded at the Galle International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka began the two-Test series on a promising note placed third in the standings behind South Africa and Australia with 52 points and a win percentage of 54.17. However, defeat against Pakistan has relegated them to sixth position with the win percentage lowered to 48.15.

Sri Lanka have only three more Test matches (one against Pakistan starting at Galle on Sunday and 2 in New Zealand next year) to complete their cycle of six Test series. Even if they win all three of their remaining Tests, they will not be able to raise their win percentage to match those of South Africa and Australia who have over 70.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have put themselves in a great position to make it to the final by moving one slot up to third position with a win percentage of 58.33. They have five Tests at home after the Sri Lanka series – three against England and two against New Zealand to improve their win percentage and their ranking. The top two countries in the table qualify to play in the final.  

Record run chase fifth in Sri Lanka  

Pakistan’s successful record run chase to win the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle, is the fifth instance of a team pursuing over 300 runs in the fourth innings in Sri Lanka and the 16th best overall.

Against all odds Pakistan set a target of 342 chased it down to win by four wickets riding on opening bat Abdullah Shafique’s epic knock of 160*. It was a great comeback by Pakistan who were at one stage of the game 112-8 in the first innings, but thanks to their captain Babar Azam’s brilliant hundred came within four runs of Sri Lanka’s total of 222. 

Yet for all after Sri Lanka had made 337 in their second innings, and chasing 342 on a surface which is renowned to help spinners on the fourth and final days was a challenging task. However, the pitch didn’t play like a typical Galle surface and Pakistan capitalising on some missed chances and loose bowling went onto record a historic win.

This is not the first time that Pakistan has chased over 300 and won against Sri Lanka, in fact they have done it twice before in 2015 when they hunted down 377 and won by seven wickets at Pallekele and, in 2014 when they won by five wickets at Sharjah pursuing 302. In 2015 Younis Khan with 171* and Shan Masood (125) were the heroes for Pakistan and in 2014 it was Azhar Ali with 103.

The highest run chase in Sri Lanka is 388 when Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by four wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium in 2017 with Niroshan Dickwella and Asela Gunaratne scoring eighties apiece.

There have been two other instances in Sri Lanka of teams chasing over 300 runs in the fourth innings and winning both by Sri Lanka. In 2006 Sri Lanka pulled off a nerve-wracking one-wicket win over South Africa at the P. Sara Oval chasing a target of 352 with Mahela Jayawardene playing a captain’s knock of 123 and falling at 341 leaving last pair Farveez Maharoof and Lasith Malinga to score the 11 required for victory. 

The other win came in 1998 against Zimbabwe at the SSC grounds, where Aravinda de Silva’s innings of 143* and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga (87*) took the team to the target of 326. 

Sri Lanka has been involved in four fourth innings run chases of over 300 runs. The most recent one and perhaps the best of them was that incredible chase at Durban in 2019 when they beat South Africa by one wicket. 

Requiring 302 against probably the best bowling attack in the world Kusal Perera and number eleven Vishwa Fernando took Sri Lanka to a record-breaking victory. When Sri Lanka lost their ninth-wicket they were still 78 off their target. But Perera scored 67 of them off his bat to finish unbeaten on an epic 153*.