• Pakistan finished Day 2 of the Galle Test at 221/5 in 45 overs.

  • Saud Shakeel and Agha Salman smashed brilliant half-centuries for Pakistan.

Twitter Reactions: Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman help Pakistan bounce back after Prabath Jayasuriya’s brilliant bowling on Day 2
Saud Shakeel and Agha Salman (Image Source: Twitter)

The Day 2 of the Galle Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan turned out to be a big positive for the Islanders as they sent back half the visitor’s line-up to the pavilion, making Pakistan’s score 221/5 in 45 overs until stumps.

Resuming their innings on 241, the hosts finished their first innings on a score of 312. The day also saw Dhananjaya de Silva completing his ton and reaching a score of 122 before falling prey to Naseem Shah. The dismissal of De Silva opened the doors for Pakistan, and they eventually dismissed all the remaining batters cheaply to bowl out the hosts. However, Vishwa Fernando added crucial 21 runs for his team batting on the eleventh position. All Shaheen Afridi, Naseem and Abrar Ahmed bagged three wickets for Pakistan.

In reply, Pakistan’s innings got off to a disastrous start and lost their opener Imam-ul-Haq (1) in the second over itself. Although Abdullah Shafique seemed good, he too was dismissed for 19 runs by Ramesh Mendis. The wicket of Shafique was soon followed by Shan Masood (39) and Babar Azam (13). Sarfaraz Ahmed (17) fell victim to Prabath Jayasuriya as well.

Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the Pakistan innings was revived by a crucial partnership between Saud Shakeel and Agha Salman. The duo struck brilliant half-centuries and finished the rain-affected day unbeaten on 69 and 61 runs, respectively. On the other hand, Jayasuriya shined among Sri Lankan bowlers and picked three wickets for his side.

Pakistan will now look to carry the momentum and dissolve the 91-run gap when they resume their innings tomorrow. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will be determined to wrap things up quickly on Day 3.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: 

https://twitter.com/37gunner/status/1680927726629158914

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CATEGORY: Pakistan Sri Lanka

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About the Author:
VISHWANATH HARIHARAN
Vishwanath Hariharan is Content Strategist at CricketTimes.com. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. From breaking news stories to in-depth features and opinion pieces, he has covered a wide range of topics. Vishwanath is very fond of watching cricket. Like many others, he too grew up watching, playing, and imitating his favourite players of the game. MS Dhoni is like a demigod to him. You can connect with him at vishwanath.hariharan@crickettimes.com and follow him on Twitter & Linkedin.