Sri Lanka vs Pakistan: Second Test

Sri Lanka took a 2-0 series lead with victory over Pakistan in the second test of the three match series.

It was Sri Lanka from the word go as they dismissed Pakistan for 90 in their first innings, with Kulasekara taking 4-21, Thushara 2-21, Mendis 3-20 and Mathews 1-15. Shoaib Malik’s 39* was the top score in an innings where only three people made it past ten runs.

A first innings lead was hardly expected of Pakistan, who would be trying to keep Sri Lanka’s score as low as possible. Umar Gul and Saeed Amjal took 4-43 and 4-87 respectively, but an innings of 87 from Kumar Sangakarra helped to take Sri Lanka to 240, a lead of 150. A strong second innings show from Pakistan would be needed to make the game last longer, though it would be hard to get a substantial lead.

Things started off in a much better fashion for Pakistan. The first wicket to fall was that of Khurram Manzoor, who scored 38, which left the score at 85-1. Fawad Alam and the captain Younis Khan then took control, with Alam in particular being the highlight. In what was the best innings of the match, he scored 168 runs in a 200 run partnership. Younis Khan scored 82 of these, but then his wicket sparked a collapse. From being in a dominant position at 285-1, nine wickets fell in the space of 35 runs as Pakistan threw away the potential advantage they had. No other players passed ten, but Kulasekara took 4-37 and Herath 5-99 to make Sri Lanka’s target 171.

This they reached with ease, scoring at over five runs an over. Warnapura scored 54 at a strike rate around 100 to get Sri Lanka off to a safe start, then Sangakarra and Jayawardene finished the job with 46 and 37* runs respectively to give Sri Lanka a seven wicket win and an unassailable lead in the series.

Man of the Match: Nuwan Kulasekara for four wickets in both Pakistan innings, which were key to the Sri Lankan win.