A well paced 93 by opener Dimuth Karunaratne was brought to an unfortunate end as play closed on day 1 with Sri Lanka putting up a respectable 227 for the loss of 4 wickets against a resilient Pakistan outfit at the 1st Test played in Abu Dhabi.
The visitors started well, with a 34 run first stand before Kaushal Silva was outdone by Hasan Ali in the 17th over. Lahiru Thirimanne was dismissed for a duck leaving Sri Lanka at a shaky 35/2.
Yasir Shah tormented Kusal Mendis as he was dismissed shortly after, causing a severe dent in the Lankan line-up at a very early stage of the match. Skipper Chandimal partnered with Dimuth Karunaratne putting on a game changing 100 run stand, shifting the favour of the match.
Slight hesitation however cost Karunaratne as he was run out just 7 runs shy of a century. Chandimal was joined by the flamboyant Niroshan Dikwella who together closed play at 227/4.
The Lankan outfit will hope to capitalize on their score and put pressure on the Pakistani outfit, in what has been a very evenly balanced match.
