AT the end of play on Friday, former Test captain and national coach Waqar Younis had given a brief-cum-crisp word on Pakistan’s current batting.

Having watched Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq put up a fight sharing an unbroken partnership, Waqar while going past the media box here remarked: ‘Pakistan batting starts with Younis and finishes with Misbah’.

Very true and a statement of fact indeed when one looks at the way majority of our present-day batsmen have got themselves in a tangle over and over, only to lose their wickets on deliveries which should have been left alone.

But this may not be always the case. To be fair even with all the shortcomings and failures in recent times there are other batsmen too like Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq who have come up tops when needed.

Recently however it has not been the case, the reason why pressure on 88-Test Younis and 45-Test Misbah has been greater.

Both the experienced campaigners have remained Pakistan’s reliable pair at demanding international contests for sometime now.

Boasting the ability to handle grave situations, they keep their head down to enable their team get out of the woods with determined batting on several occasions as both the stalwarts displayed here on Saturday.

Their 129-run partnership which ended in the eleventh over of the fourth morning with Younis losing his wicket for 77 playing a wild shot indeed did help extend Pakistan’s tottering innings.

By the time Misbah departed after batting for just short of seven hours for his rock-solid 97, Pakistan had not only wiped off Sri Lanka’s huge 223-run first-innings lead but also had acquired a marginal 22-run lead.

Good enough performance to build on to if others offered resistance and took the innings to a point from where they could hope for rain to come and rescue them.

It did come in the shape of a mild yet consistent drizzle in the end but not before Sarfraz Ahmed and Bilawal Bhatti with calculated calm added 67 runs for the seventh wicket.

The vital stand provided Pakistan with an outside chance of saving the game if rain, as predicted, disrupts the match on Sunday.

Sarfraz at the international level has been a huge disappointment with the bat mostly because his lack of concentration lets him down. On Saturday here, the gloveman must have realised therefore that how important it was for him to take charge when Pakistan lost Misbah at a crucial juncture.

Having dropped anchor, Sarfraz showed that he has that kind of ability to rise when the chips are down. It was pleasing to see that he notched up his first Test half-century at a time when it was most needed.

Injured Bilawal, suffering from hamstring problem, also displayed as much grit to bat for an hour and a quarter for his very valuable 32.

In a batting line-up like Pakistan’s one always has this feeling that everyone plays for himself — rather than performing for the team — in order to retain their place. Such is the insecurity within their ranks for not being consistent with ball or bat.

However, pleasantly it was not the case here on Saturday. The Pakistanis combined their mind, body and bat to resurrect themselves with a determined effort and take the lead past a hundred and thus creating an outside chance of saving the game if rain did come.