The Pakistani side would be the happier side of the two at stumps as they finished up on 222/3, still needing 120 runs to surpass the total in what turned out to be an exciting fourth day of play at Galle. The tourist’s top performer, Abdullah Shafique, finished unbeaten at 112.
The pressure was on Sri Lanka’s spinners to succeed in the evening session after a lacklustre performance in the first two sessions. spin three of Ramesh Mendis, Maheesh Theekshana, and Prabath Jayasuriya, the spinning unit of the hosts persevered by maintaining a tight grip during the last session, could only take one wicket, but it was Babar Azam’s, which was a crucial one (55).
The spin trio did come close to getting Shafique out during the course of the practise. Shafique just avoided being hit when the ball fell in front of the fielder positioned at forward short leg in the first over following the break. Shafique eventually reached a well-balanced hundred with a double from Theekshana in the 72nd over.
Mohammad Rizwan and Shafique managed the final few overs, and tomorrow the innings will continue.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 222 and 337 (Dinesh Chandimal 94*, Kusal Mendis 76; Mohammad Nawaz 5-88) lead Pakistan 218 and 222/3 (Abdullah Shafique 112*; Prabath Jayasuriya 2-89) by 119 runs