It was another day of tough test cricket in Dubai for players from both teams. Nevertheless, they battled with intensity and conviction embossing the beauty of test cricket. Sri Lanka ended up with advantage, but Pakistan’s fiery last session left them with more than hope.
Pakistan, chasing Sri Lankan first innings score of huge 482 to level the series, started the day on 51 without a loss. A Debutant, Lahiru Gamage took the first dig into Pakistan innings with his maiden test wicket, Shan Masood inside-edging on to the stumps. Sami Aslam followed him to the dressing-room in the very next over. Asad Shafiq probably got the delivery of the match from Suranga Lakmal soon after. Peach of a ball, which had swung in and then seamed away, leaving the batsman clueless. Babar Azam, having a terrible series did not last long either. Sri Lanka went into lunch as the happier team.
Thanks to a gritty 59 from Azar Ali, and 56 from Haris Sohail who has announced himself at the big stage in this series, Pakistan went on to make 262. Herath and Perera shared three wickets each. Debutant Lahiru Gamage and Suranga Lakmal who has bowled brilliantly throughout the series picked up two wickets each for them. Sri Lanka ended up with a lead of 220, leaving them an opportunity to force the follow-on, something Sri Lanka did not even come close to achieving for a while now. Rightly so, they decided to bat again on a deteriorating pitch.
However, Sri Lanka in a territory so unfamiliar to them, having a first innings lead over 200, failed to cope with it. They looked like a bunch of toddlers who had seen a box of candy right outside the closed classroom door but had no idea how to reach the door handle. Batsman seemed to have lost the situation-awareness in newly found confidence and played with more freedom on a day three pitch under the lights, which they should not have done. With two days left in the test match, with only 15 overs left in the day, instead of trying to play out the day, Sri Lankan batsmen were more than happy to play shots and look for singles against steaming Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah. The result was a scorecard of 34 for five at the end of the day, tilting the advantage less towards Sri Lanka.
Still, due to first inning heroics, Sri Lanka left the stadium with a lead of 254 with five wickets in hand. But they have lost the firm grip they had since the innings break and were left with lot more work to do. Although Sri Lanka is in a strong position right now, tomorrow, they will have to face an examination of themselves as they lost from stronger positions in the recent past. While there is no doubt that Pakistan has all the potential to turn the match around, whether Sri Lanka can win the test match and the series will only depend on how they will cope with the unknown territory they are in right now.
