RAWALPINDI: It seems the opening fixture of the ICC World Test Championship on Pakistan soil is, in all probability, is destined to be abruptly become victim of the fickle weather here in Rawalpindi.

Thursday’s day two of the first match of the two-Test series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Pindi Cricket Stadium was agonisingly one of utter frustration as only a handful of overs were bowled in two brief slots on either side of the lunch interval, which arrived far too early as rain inundated the ground to such an extent that 164 minutes of playing time were lost.

The number of overs falling prey to the bad weather swelled to 94 with Thursday alone being severely curtailed to mere 18.2 overs of live action on the field while Sri Lanka moved from 202-5 to 263-6. When stumps were drawn prematurely, Dhananjaya de Silva (72 off 131 balls, 11 boundaries) and Dilruwan Perera (2) were in the middle.

The forecast for Friday, in the meantime, offers another gloomy picture, according to the locals here who have indicated that rains would return from time to time through the scheduled third day. Further, showers are also predicted for Saturday’s day four of this landmark Test, the first in the country since March 2009.

Meanwhile, in the ephemeral spell of play, lasting altogether a grand total of 82 minutes in two slots of 35 and 47 minutes respectively saw Sri Lanka add 61 runs to their overnight first-innings total of 202-5 while losing their wicket-keeper/batsman Niroshan Dickwella to the second new ball, which was claimed after 80.1 overs with the visitors.

Dhananjaya de Silva, however, stood his ground unscathed to extend his Wednesday’s tally from 38 to 82 before umpires Michael Gough and Richard Kettleborough intervened to bring an end to the entertainment at 2:33pm in the extended afternoon session — which was planned to last from 1:145pm to the revised tea break at 4:00pm — when the natural light began to fade out quickly.

The use of floodlights — which were in operation all day — is proving just an exercise in futility because sighting the red ball becomes a hazardous business for the batsmen when the artificial lights are on at all venues and not just in Rawalpindi.

In conditions such as these it was credit to Sri Lanka for not losing more than Dickwella’s wicket to Shaheen Shah Afridi who enticed the plucky left-hander to slice a catch towards gully into the hands of Babar Azam, after a wait of 90 minutes since Wednesday evening. The sixth-wicket partnership between Dickwella, who contributed 33 from 63 deliveries with the help of four boundaries, and de Silva was worth 67.

The solitary dramatic moment on an otherwise forgetful day was when Pakistan thought they had de Silva — who was then on 48 and Sri Lanka at 216-5. The all-rounder got nick to a fine delivery from Nasim Shah to Mohammad Rizwan who pouched the catch very low, the ball apparently touched the grass before reaching the gloves.

After Gough and Kettleborough engaged in a brief conversation, de Silva started walking back upon receiving the soft signal of dismissal but TV official Richard Illingworth remained unconvinced and ruled the right-hander not out after reviewing the matter from different angles.

Dickwella gave a clear insight into Sri Lanka’s game plan by saying there is no point for his side to declare their innings despite the possibility of more playing time, while echoing skipper Dimuth Karunaratne’s wish for a 300-plus total.

“The conditions normally dictate the future course but here our aim is to bat deep until we are all out. Our prime objective is to reach at least 300 because despite curtailment in play there is still time for a conclusive result,” Dickwella told the post-day’s play media conference.

“When there is less play just it happened today, it is still possible for any side to lose wickets in a cluster. I still remember us losing six wickets very quickly during a Test in New Zealand. So anything is possible over the remaining three days here and there is no reason for Sri Lanka to rethink their strategy even though so many overs have been lost to the weather.”

Commenting on the stop-start-stop scenario type of cricket on Thursday, Dickwella pointed out that being professional cricketers there is nothing one can do except to focus on the job.

“For sure, lapse of concentration is the biggest drawback because when there are interruptions on and off, the bowling side does get the chance to chip away at the wickets. However, we are all professionals and are mentally prepared to overcome such hurdles,” he added.

Shaheen, the big left-arm fast bowler, also acknowledged this factor well while insisting that as a member of the bowling unit stoppages at times can be annoying.

“A bowler obviously cannot find the situation where one has to go on and off [the field] because that is a big test of one’s skills,” Shaheen told the reporters. “If the bowler is lacking in rhythm then it becomes difficult for him to readjust and then try to get the line and length in order.

“Today it was quite challenging to make the adjustments because the conditions were tough in terms of us bowlers getting the focus.”

It would be great injustice not to acknowledge the never-say-die attitude of the drastically curtailed groundstaff which put in a tireless workload to minimise the damage caused by circumstances beyond its control.

From the moment it started raining, the team of around 20-25 people had to initially drag the white PVC sheets — which have been especially brought here from the PCB headquarters at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore — onto the square and the adjoining playing area in a 50-yard radius. The pair of super-soppers, meanwhile, had the herculean task of drying up the outfield as well as the water on top of the covers and they too did a fine job.

The pitch itself is first put to safety by several canvas covers. These sheets are designed in such a way that they soak the water if it seeps underneath. Once the surface is amply covered, the PVC sheets are placed on top to make it more secure from the rains.

On Thursday, the groundstaff had to repeat the process multiple times. Without their collective efforts, day two would have been a totally blank day. Scoreboard

SRI LANKA (1st Innings, overnight 202-5)

D. Karunaratne lbw b Shaheen 59

O. Fernando c Sohail b Nasim 40

K. Mendis c Rizwan b Shinwari 10

A. Mathews c Asad b Nasim 31

D. Chandimal b Abbas 2

D. de Silva not out 72

N. Dickwella c Babar b Shaheen 33

D. Perera not out 2

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-6, NB-3) 14

TOTAL (for six wkts, 86.3 overs) 263

STILL TO BAT: V. Fernando, K. Rajitha, L. Kumara

FALL OF WKTS: 1-96, 2-109, 3-120, 4-127, 5-189, 6-256

BOWLING (to-date): Abbas 24-9-56-1; Shaheen 19.3-7-47-2 (3nb); Shinwari 15-4-54-1; Nasim 22-4-75-2; Haris 3-0-12-0; Shan 1-1-0-0; Asad 2-0-8-0

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2019