Dinesh Chandimal, Oshada Fernando hit fifties on shared first day

 Dinesh Chandimal, Oshada Fernando hit fifties on shared first day

Sri Lanka 315 for 6 (Chandimal 80, Oshada 50, Nawaz 2-71) vs Pakistan

The openers put on ninety two together, Dinesh Chandimal made 80, and Niroshan Dickwella went to stumps on forty two no longer out, as Sri Lanka strode to 315 for 6 for the day. On a flat Galle floor that will take some days to accurate wear, this used to be neither a commanding total, nor a modest one.

While spinners located turn, it wasn't the speedy range that motives collapses. The quicks observed some motion off the surface, however solely whilst the seam used to be hard. It was once a batting-friendly day. And if anything, Sri Lanka might also be kicking themselves for dropping one wicket too many.

Of Pakistan's bowlers, Mohammad Nawaz appeared the likeliest to take wickets, even if he was once incredibly wayward at times. Nauman Ali, the different left-arm spinner, used to be greater consistent, and took the wicket of Angelo Mathews, who used to be taking part in his one centesimal Test. But Pakistan's bowlers didn't have a lot to work with - the flip off the pitch nonetheless broadly speaking slow, even if the occasional ball erupted off the pitch.

Sri Lanka can also replicate they have been unlucky to lose two wickets to such deliveries. The balls that received Oshada Fernando (from Nawaz), and Mathews (from Nauman), became and bounced greater than most deliveries had at some stage in both batter's stay. Then there was once the dismissal of Kusal Mendis, which got here from one of these run outs the place the bowler does nicely to get a hand to a straight force and the non-striker does not get their bat down rapidly enough. Kusal had solely confronted 10 balls, and was once out via simply a couple of frames.

It was once Chandimal, the structure batter in the Sri Lanka side, who pushed Sri Lanka ahead higher than each person else, however. Two of his first three boundaries boundaries have been streaky - an interior side previous the stumps off Yasir Shah, and a backyard facet previous slip towards Naseem.

But eventually, matters settled, and Chandimal was once in his confident-but-measured self, discovering gaps via cowl when he went for the huge drives, working the singles rectangular on either facet of the pitch, however hardly ever using the sweep aside from when he was once searching for a boundary. He acquired to fifty off the 99th ball he faced, and hit a couple of sixes off Yasir Shah quickly after - one over deep rectangular leg when Yasir despatched him a lengthy hop, and the different over extensive long-on, when he acquired down on one knee to clatter Yasir.

As with countless of Sri Lanka's batters, Chandimal used to be out towards the run of play, when he had been underneath little strain from the bowlers. He ran down at Nawaz, obtained nowhere shut to the ball, tried to launch him over cow nook anyway, and ended up simply giving a main side out to point, the place Fawad Alam devoured a easy catch.