Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva hit a defiant 122 before Pakistan bowled out the hosts for 312 on day two of the opening test on Monday.
De Silva moved from his overnight 94 to register his 10th test ton in his 50th match to bolster Sri Lanka’s position after a top-order collapse on a rain-hit first day in Galle.
The second day’s play began early with revised timings for each of the three sessions and de Silva soon got to his hundred off pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Shaheen, fellow quick Naseem Shah and legspinner Abrar Ahmed finished with three wickets each as the Sri Lankan innings ended in 95.2 overs and lunch was called.
Abrar got the first breakthrough of the day to send back overnight batsman Ramesh Mendis for five.
De Silva kept up his defiance to get useful runs with the lower order before he finally fell to Naseem, who struck twice after Pakistan took the second new ball.
De Silva smashed 12 fours and three sixes in his 214-ball knock as the batsman took on the Pakistan bowlers with aplomb.
Number 11 Vishwa Fernando made an unbeaten 21.
Sri Lanka had a horror start to the two-match series after they fell to 54-4 in the first session on Sunday following their decision to bat first.
The hosts recovered and hit back with a 131-run fifth-wicket stand between Angelo Mathews, who made 64, and de Silva as rain interrupted play twice on Sunday.
Source - AFP
-Agencies
