KARACHI: Pakistan opener Abid Ali celebrates scoring a century during the second Test against Sri Lanka at the National Stadium on Saturday.—Tahir Jamal/White Star
KARACHI: Pakistan opener Abid Ali celebrates scoring a century during the second Test against Sri Lanka at the National Stadium on Saturday.—Tahir Jamal/White Star

KARACHI: Abid Ali and Shan Masood put the Sri Lanka bowling to the sword with scintillating centuries on a day of records while putting Pakistan in the driving seat in the second and final Test here at the National Stadium on Saturday.

Pakistan had garnered a lead of 315 runs by going to stumps at a commanding 395-2 as they serenely regained initiative from the visitors after openers Abid (174) and Shan (135) ad provided the platform in a record-laden partnership of 278 in 301 minutes — the sixth biggest stand in all Pakistan-Sri Lanka Tests with both men posting career-best scores.

With the home side dictating terms all day, it was a heartening sight to find Azhar Ali finally come out of the horrible rut — 13 previous Test innings without a half-century — as the captain stayed until the close of play to make 57 (off 103 balls, four boundaries). And with Babar Azam (22) at the crease, Pakistan are sighting their eye on completing shutting the doors on Sri Lanka on Sunday’s penultimate day of the series.

The awesome batting performance was a stark contrast to what had transpired on the first day when Pakistan crumbled inside 59 overs for 191 and then allowing Sri Lanka post 271. Resuming day three at 57-0, Pakistan’s primary objective upfront on Saturday was to wipe out Sri Lanka’s lead of 80 runs on the first innings and then built a sufficient total before setting the visitors a daunting fourth-innings chase on a pitch which had gradually gone flatter and turned into a belter as the day unfolded.

Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne rotated the bowlers but all his attempts were nullified by the two Pakistani openers who maintained a scoring rate of 3.75 runs per over almost throughout their marathon stand. On the way, the first-wicket column also had new entrants as Abid and Shan not only sailed past the previous best partnership against Sri Lanka — 156 recorded by Wajahatullah Wasti and Shahid Afridi during the Asian Test Championship match at Lahore in March 1999.

The scoring pattern testified how dominant both Abid and Shan were throughout; in the period leading to the interval, Pakistan piled up 118 from 26 overs to be 175-0 at the break with Abid moving from his overnight score of 32 to 93 and Shan from 21 to 78. The afternoon saw the hosts add another 107 in 29 overs, while the final session also yielded 107

The salient feature of that lunch score was that it eclipsed Pakistan’s previous highest for any wicket against the islanders, surpassing 174 put on by the fourth-wicket paring of Younis Khan and Faisal Iqbal in the last Test to be played here, in February 2009.

Abid was the first to get to the century mark and enrolled in the record books by becoming only the ninth player to hit centuries in the first two matches of his Test career, while the left-handed Shan silenced his growing list of critics by reaching three figures for the second time at the highest level.

Abid swept Lasith Embuldeniya for a brace to bring up a brilliant hundred from 137 deliveries in 202 minutes after already taking two boundaries — including a powerful slog-sweep — off the slow left-armer. The 32-year-old, egged on by a sizeable turnout of 10,000 spectators who lovingly chanted ‘Abid, Abid, Abid’ every time the opener closed in on a milestone.

Coming into the final fixture of this ICC World Test Championship series on the back of that unbeaten 109 at Rawalpindi last week, Abid hardly seemed like taking a wrong step as he joined the exalted club led by India’s Mohammad Azharuddin who scored tons in each of his first three Tests against England in 1984-85. Others in this group who have all made centuries in their first two Tests are Bill Ponsford of Australia (versus England, 1924-25); Australia’s Doug Walters (vs England, 1965); Alvin Kallicharran of West Indies (vs New Zealand, 1972); Australia’s Greg Blewett (vs England, 1994-95); Sourav Ganguly of India (vs England, 1996), India’s Rohit Sharma (vs West Indies, 2013) and Jimmy Neesham of New Zealand (vs India and West Indies, 2014).

Shan bettered his only other Test ton — 125 against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2015 — but after having struck seven fours and three sixes during his 198-ball knock, the left-hander lost the plot when his pull went straight down the lap of Oshada Fernando off the preserving fast bowler Lahiru Kumara.

“Asad Shafiq told of the Pakistan record opening stand [298, set by Ijaz Ahmed and Aamir Sohail versus West Indies at the same venue in 1997] and we decided to go past that landmark by reaching 300,” Shan told reporters after stumps were drawn for the day which saw the first instance in the series of full 90 overs being completed. “Yeah, I made the mistake of playing that stroke. It was obviously disappointing for bid and myself for missing out on a golden chance.”

A double century was there for the taking for the impressive Abid but a Kumara got one to dart low on the off-stump line to bag the prized of the diminutive opener, who batted for six hours and 38 minutes while decorating his fabulous innings with 21 fours and one six.

The double act from Abid and Shan also made only the third pair of Pakistan openers to hit centuries in the same innings after the Aamir-Ijaz feat 22 years ago and the achievement of Taufiq Umar and Saeed Anwar versus Bangladesh at Multan in 2001.

“Both Shan and I are really proud of emulating those two pairs,” Abid said. “Personally, I love batting with Shan because we great rapport from the few recent series when we opened against several foreign teams for Pakistan ‘A’ in the UAE. However, I do regret at not converting this innings into a double century, but at the end of the day it I’ve no complaints. Whatever, I have achieved in these two Tests due to the prayers of my family and well-wishers. Allah Almighty has been very, very kind to me and I’m grateful for that.”

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, were left smarting despite the lionhearted efforts of Kumara, the solitary wicket-taker with figures of 2-88 from 22 overs as Pakistan amassed 338 runs on a memorable day for them.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 191 (Asad Shafiq 63, Babar Azam 60, Abid Ali 38; C.B.R.L.S. Kumara 4-49, L. Embuldeniya 4-71, M.V.T. Fernando 2-31).

SRI LANKA (1st Innings) 271 (L.D. Chandimal 74, M.D.K. Perera 48, D.M. de Silva 32; Shaheen Shah Afridi 5-77, Mohammad Abbas 4-55).

PAKISTAN (2nd Innings, overnight 57-0):

Shan Masood c O. Fernando b Kumara 135

Abid Ali lbw b Kumara174

Azhar Ali not out57

Babar Azam not out22

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-2)7

TOTAL (for two wkts, 104 overs)395

FALL OF WKTS: 1-278, 2-355.

BOWLING (to-date): M.V.T. Fernando 21-2-84-0; Kumara

22-5-88-2; Embuldeniya 37-3-136-0 (1w); Perera 17-1-63-0 (1w); de Silva 7-0-19-0.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2019

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