De Silva leads Sri Lanka fightback against Pakistan in Galle Test

Dhananjaya de Silva hit an unbeaten 94 as Sri Lanka recovered from an early collapse to reach 242-6 at stumps on a rain-hit day one of the first Test against Pakistan on Sunday.

The fifth-wicket pair of de Silva and Angelo Mathews (64) put on 131 after Sri Lanka had slipped to 54-4 in the opening session, with Shaheen Shah Afridi taking three wickets on his Test return.

“On a deck like this, I haven’t seen many bowlers bowl the way Shaheen did,” Mathews said of the Pakistan pace ace. “He was brilliant today.”

After the rain, the former captain added, “the wicket was nippy, that enabled the bowlers to seam and swing the ball, high-quality bowlers landing the seam on the wicket.”

De Silva stood firm in an extended final session in Galle despite losing his partner Sadeera Samarawickrama, who made 36, after a 57-run stand.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Samarawickrama fell to Agha Salman’s spin and play, which had witnessed two rain interruptions at a cost of 24.2 overs lost, was called off for the day.

De Silva batted elegantly with deft cuts, drives and pulls, and amassed 10 fours and three sixes — one of them to reach his fifty.

But he slowed down in the final hour of play as he awaited his 10th Test century in his 50th match.

Mathews, playing his 105th Test, raised his 39th half-century in the five-day format.

The pair seemed comfortable and de Silva started to take on the bowlers with boundaries, but leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed got Mathews caught behind at the stroke of tea.

‘Nicely poised’ –

Sri Lanka had looked in trouble at lunch, which was put back by an hour after officials adjusted the session timings to make up for a first rain delay of nearly 90 minutes.

Shaheen, a left-arm quick playing his 26th Test, moved from 99 to a century of wickets on his return from injury when he sent back Nishan Madushka caught behind for four in his second over.

The 23-year-old Pakistani star injured his knee at the same venue a year ago.

Rain soon arrived in Galle to interrupt proceedings but Shaheen took another wicket when action resumed as he got Kusal Mendis out for 12.

Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne hit back with a few boundaries before Shaheen got him out for 29, caught behind attempting a glance down the leg side.

Fast bowler Naseem Shah soon joined in to get Dinesh Chandimal out for one with a quick delivery as skipper Babar Azam pulled off a tough catch at third slip.

“Shaheen Afridi and Naseem had to put on a very special effort today on what was a batting-friendly wicket. They simply responded very well today,” Pakistan head coach Grant Bradburn told reporters.

“Very pleased with where we are in the match at the moment,” he added. “Nicely poised for tomorrow morning, the new ball is not far away.”