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Led by double-centurion Saud Shakeel, Pakistan clawed their way back into the first Test with a brilliantly scored 461 on Tuesday, July 18. Shakeel became the first batter from his country to score a double hundred in Sri Lanka as the visitors took control of the first Test.
He went on to score an unbeaten 208, his second century in two Tests as Pakistan was all out after tea. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka were trailing by 149 runs in the first innings and this was reduced to 135 when it was 14 for no loss by stumps on Day 3.
Since his debut in December, Shakeel has scored a double hundred, a hundred and five half-centuries. He has an extremely impressive average of 72.50 in six Tests and was the mainstay of Pakistan's innings by stitching valuable partnerships with the lower middle order and the tail after the top order collapsed.
With the score reading 101-5, a first-innings lead was the last thing on Pakistan's mind, but Shakeel added 177 runs with Agha Salman to rescue his side. The partnership was a record for Pakistan for the sixth wicket against Sri Lanka, improving on the 173-run stand between Sarfaraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq in Dubai in 2017.
“When I went in to bat, I wanted to attack,” Shakeel said. "If I had tried to be defensive we would have got bowled out for 150. That's the reason I attacked and was able to take the game deep.
“We have been working to play this kind of attacking cricket back in the camp at home. The coaching staff backed me. Pretty pleased with the effort.” With an unorthodox batting technique, Shakeel used his feet expertly to the spinners, punishing the loose balls and forcing the Sri Lankans to spread the field during his stand with Salman.
Ramesh Mendis made the breakthrough in the rain-affected morning session when he had Salman stumped for 83. Batting with the tail, Shakeel changed gears, quite content to farm the strike from the tail and the tactic worked.
After lunch, Shakeel extended the seventh-wicket stand with Noman Ali to 52 runs. He added a match-defining 94 runs with Naseem Shah for the ninth wicket. Naseem's contribution was just six runs.
Mendis finished with a five-wicket haul, his fifth in 13 tests, while Prabath Jayasuriya claimed three wickets. Overall, the Sri Lanka bowlers struggled against the clever batsmanship of Shakeel.
Sri Lanka's openers faced 3.4 overs without trouble before bad light forced an early end to play. But they have a huge ask at their hands on Day 4.
