One reason why this Test match sits right up there is its unpredictability. Both teams scored 400+ in their 1st innings and then couldn’t even pass 150 in their 2nd innings; 138 and 114 respectively.
For a good part of 4 days, the match was heading towards a draw, but on the 5th and the last day 16 wickets fell ( 6 of Sri Lanka and 10 of Pakistan) for just 183 runs.
The win itself is not a fairytale or a miracle, but the entire match is a fairytale;one of the best Test matches in the recent times!
Boring, steady, dead pitch, thrilling, entertaining you name it.
Dimuth’s and Chandimal’s batting in the first innings, Dickwella’s awesome and much needed contribution in both the innings batting Lower down the order, Rangana’s miraculous left arm and Dilruwan’s control helped Sri Lanka to pull out a miracle; brought a much needed victory after so long.
The Sri Lankan’s have forgotten on how to celebrate after losing so much matches so they decided to celebrate twice.
That feeling you get as a loyal, dedicated cricket fan, a cricket writer, commentator and as a person who has played cricket cannot be expressed into words.
Rangana 3rd fastest to reach 400 Test wickets, 100 wickets in the 4th innings of a Test match, who is also the 4th bowler to do so, 9 Ten – fers in Test cricket who is also 3rd in the list, 100 wickets against Pakistan who is also the first bowler in the world to do so against Pakistan and the highest wicket taker against them.
Smallest winning margin for Sri Lanka by runs and the lowest 4th innings target defended by Sri Lanka.
Let’s finish with this, Thirimanne is a needed player for the ODI format and considering his ODI performance giving him a chance in the test 11 doesn’t actually do any justice to him or the Team; because if he fails in Test there is a chance of him getting dropped from ODI’s as well.
The same with Chandimal, he is the best Test batsmen that Sri Lanka have so he should be included in Tests and not in the shorter formats. Dimuth is the best Test opener Sri Lanka have be it in home soil or overseas he performs always.
But don’t see a place for Kaushal Silva in the team, was dropped got another chance but doesn’t grab it properly. Moreover, his negative, slow batting is not the most ideal at times. So it’s about time Sri Lanka build a player like Sadeera Samarwikrama to open the innings and utterly impressive Roshane Silva to play at number 4. number 3 should always be Mendis. Both players are in the squad and hope they will get the chance they deserve in the next match.
