2nd Test, Day 5: Pakistan's unbeaten run in UAE comes to an end as Sri Lanka seal 2-0 whitewash

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan fell short in their quest to complete yet another 300+ fourth-innings run-chase against Sri Lanka to bring their undefeated series streak in UAE to a premature end. After skittling the hosts out for 96 in the third innings, hopes of victory were renewed in the Pakistan camp but an overly cautious start by the openers soon saw Pakistan lose quick wickets in the shape of Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali, both to the Sri Lankan fast-bowlers. Haris Sohail earned himself a promotion in the batting order after his excellent batting displays earlier in the series but was unable to make a big score this time around as a superb delivery from Dilruwan Perera had him caught behind. Shan Masood was next, falling after making a dismal 21 off 101 balls and Babar Azam followed suit, continuing his barren run in the longest format with another duck. Asad Shafiq and Sarfaraz Ahmed stabilised the innings with a fantastic partnership, once again giving Pakistan hopes of a comeback after being 52/5 but Sarfaraz's knock was eventually brought to an end after resumption of play on Day 5 for 68. Asad Shafiq carried on to make a hundred but it was all in vain as he was the second-last batsman to fall with Pakistan's tail putting up a minimal amount of fight as Dilruwan Perera ended with five wickets to his name.

Earlier in the Test match, Sri Lanka won the toss once again and opted to bat first, putting runs on the board with a massive first-innings total of 482. The Pakistan bowlers toiled for a long time as the visitors opted to grind it out with Dimuth Karunaratne the chief architect of the total. The opener shared in a big partnership for the fourth wicket with captain Dinesh Chandimal grinding out a circumspect 62. Niroshan Dickwella and Perera followed with fifties in support of Karunaratne as the opener neared a double-hundred but Wahab Riaz finally dismissed him, played on for a fabulous 196. Further contributions from the tail saw Sri Lanka finish with a huge total as Yasir Shah ended with figures of 6/184 after bowling more than 55 overs in the innings.

Pakistan's first-innings reply began with a fifty partnership from the openers but the hosts felt the pinch of the slow run-rate when wickets began to fall. The openers were dismissed in quick succession while Asad Shafiq failed once again, falling to a peach of a delivery from Suranga Lakmal. Haris Sohail and Azhar Ali were the only ones to put up a fight but both fell soon after getting to their fifties and with minimum contributions from the others, Pakistan rapidly fell to 262 all out with Rangana Herath and Perera picking up three wickets apiece as the visitors took a 220-run lead.

Sri Lanka had to negotiate a tough period towards the end of Day 3 and Pakistan finally awoke from their slumber with Mohammad Abbas dismissing Kaushal Silva early on. Wahab had Karunaratne out chopping onto his stumps for the second time in the match and then removed Sadeera Samarawickrama and Chandimal with Yasir dismissing the night-watchman Lakmal as Sri Lanka slumped to 34/5 at Stumps. At the start of the next day, crucial 20s from Kusal Mendis and Dickwella helped Sri Lanka to stretch the lead beyond 300. However, Haris came on to bowl and registered startling figures of 3/1 to rekindle Pakistani hopes of a famous comeback victory but it was not to be as it was Sri Lanka who instead registered a stunning whitewash, a 180-degree turnaround after losing nine out of nine matches against India at home just two months ago.

Pakistan XI: Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Sarfraz Ahmed (c/wk), Mohammad Amir, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Abbas

Sri Lanka XI: Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal (c), Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Gamage, Nuwan Pradeep

 

[shariqnoor]

Angelo Mathews injury cost Pakistan dearly. Chandimal as captain was nothing short of superb. His field placings were spot on aided by some atrocious Pakistani batting mindset and skillset.

 

[hayder ali]

Worlds poor team beats worlds worst team....

What an epic contest between two even teams.....

 

[another drop catch]

hardfought loss

 

[Sherlock]

Well done SL and their amazing fans. Thoroughly deserved.

 

[sachin100]

Shafiq was superb in this innings. He has to show similar kind of form every match as he has now become the main batsman in the team

 

[JaDed]

Disappointing stuff from PCT, good for Lankans and their fans,must be a much needed victory.

 

[sachin100]

Well done to the sl team.

Pak team lost due to horrible team selections and horrible batting from their top order

 

[JattMaula]

"Home" team whitewashed by lower ranked team.

Some heads must roll.

 

[lehen]

2nd test was one sided from the word go, barring a Sri Lankan collapse and some great fightback by Sarfraz n Asad in 2nd inning, the Lankans steamrolled Pakistan in this test winning 85% of the time/session. Fair outcome,Well played Lankans,Pakistan also needs to rethink ,the surprising CT win bloated many a players in the team with false confidence

 

[Kashmirilion]

When our rivals thrashed Lanka, it was all Irrelevant and meaningless the runs the wickets. Same Lanka team smashes us at UAE where we have not lost to the best of teams what a decline, this has to be our most embarrassing test series defeat, just then you think it can't get any worse pak surely don't let you down in that regard.

 

[pkwdpassion]

Congrats to Sri Lankan team, humble nation & people. Hope this series win helps their cricket for the better.
Well-deserved.

 

[Mainul]

Congratulations Srilanka.
Pakistan after CT magic back to their level again.Hard to believe that this team won world cup maze last year

 

[ethan hunt]

Congratulations Srilanka.
Pakistan after CT magic back to their level again.Hard to believe that this team won world cup

Different team . Different format . Whats so hard to undertand ??
What do you mean by their level ??
Congratulations to Srilanka. Pleased for them . Micky and the management must take the blame for the loss.

 

[pkwdpassion]

Different team . Different format . Whats so hard to undertand ??
What do you mean by their level ??
Congratulations to Srilanka. Pleased for them . Micky and the management must take the blame for the loss.

Micky and the management did'nt select this trash squad, Inzamam did, please don't divert blame from the real culprit, Inzamam ul Haq.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Both teams were weak in lot of areas. Hence an ebb and flow series. Many who predicted white wash in favor of Pakistan overlooked Pakistan's own struggles against spin. Ball turned albeit a very slow turn.

 

[Mainul]

Different team . Different format . Whats so hard to undertand ??
What do you mean by their level ??
Congratulations to Srilanka. Pleased for them . Micky and the management must take the blame for the loss.

This was supposed to happen.Pakistan handed over the responsibility to two limited batsmen Azhar and Asad.And they brought back Masood who won't get chance even in a top first class team.They ignored their best performer in first class Fawad for nearly a decade. Something worse to come if they don't fill the team with real talented and capable batsmen.Bowling is decent.

 

[ethan hunt]

Micky and the management did'nt select this trash squad, Inzamam did, please don't divert blame from the real culprit, Inzamam ul Haq.

Management moved our besr test opener to 3 just to accomodate trash like Shaan . The management overlooked asghar to pick 3 pacers on tracks that favoured spin if anything .
Inzimam i assume did not have a say in the pitches , playing 11 and strategy . Yes we can blame him for the squad . Pakistan should still have won with the squad they had.

 

[ethan hunt]

This was supposed to happen.Pakistan handed over the responsibility to two limited batsmen Azhar and Asad.And they brought back Masood who won't get chance even in a top first class team.They ignored their best performer in first class Fawad for nearly a decade. Something worse to come if they don't fill the team with real talented and capable batsmen.Bowling is decent.

Azhar is one of the best test openers in the worls and should move back to that position . Pakistan will do fine wth a better strategy . Now what exactly did you mean by "back to their level " ??

 

[sachin100]

Management moved our besr test opener to 3 just to accomodate trash like Shaan . The management overlooked asghar to pick 3 pacers on tracks that favoured spin if anything .
Inzimam i assume did not have a say in the pitches , playing 11 and strategy . Yes we can blame him for the squad . Pakistan should still have won with the squad they had.

Azhar ali also has to be proactive because there are no younis and misbah to accelerate against spinners and his innings will be of no use when others r even worse

 

[ethan hunt]

Azhar ali also has to be proactive because there are no younis and misbah to accelerate against spinners and his innings will be of no use when others r even worse

He will.never be a younis but he can be a very good opener for Pakistan . Lets not try and make him what he isn't .

 

[hayder ali]

Thank you sarfaraz

 

[pkwdpassion]

[MENTION=64288]ethan hunt[/MENTION]

disagree

All the top 4 are crap, check their replacement from squad. Look into the squad again.

Inzimam has more say than he deserves. He announcing odi side shows his shameful stance. He is repeating same favoritism he did as captain, losing many series for Pakistan. Inzamam should be removed

 

[sachin100]

He will.never be a younis but he can be a very good opener for Pakistan . Lets not try and make him what he isn't .

he sets the pace of innings which is very low and if pak loses early wickets his slow batting is a distinct disadvantage because even after facing 100 deliveries his strike rate will not improve one bit.he doesnt play like a well settled batsman by upping the scoring rate

 

[Madplayer]

Congratulations Srilanka.
Pakistan after CT magic back to their level again.Hard to believe that this team won world cup maze last year

Pretty rich coming from you. What are the mighty Bangladeshi doing against SA apart from losing matches in half a session

 

[CricFan2012]

Honestly I could have won Pakistan the match easily from shafiques position, I have more jazba and junoon, it was barely a hundred runs

 

[Sirris]

From its ashes shall the Phoenix rise.

 

[mystical man]

That is my concern and the way Lankans were looking after being bowled out for 96 meant it was still the same mediocre side that played against India. Pakistan continues to be the most unpredictable side in this world with no consistency in any format of the game.

 

[mystical man]

From its ashes shall the Phoenix rise.

Is this in context with team pakistan then the answer is 20 times a year

 

[shaz619]

Congrats to Lanka [MENTION=132270]SL_Fan[/MENTION] they outplayed Pakistan on every level and deserve to end the UAE streak, Pakistan may have been a bit inactive prior to this series but Lanka are a low ranked team which had been severely demoralised by India yet they still showed up to win and fought really well throughout the series.

 

[leatherface58]

Congrats to Lanka [MENTION=132270]SL_Fan[/MENTION] they outplayed Pakistan on every level and deserve to end the UAE streak, Pakistan may have been a bit inactive prior to this series but Lanka are a low ranked team which had been severely demoralised by India yet they still showed up to win and fought really well throughout the series.

Paul Heyman to become the new Percy. Sri Lanka is a Paul Heyman team )


Congrats to Sri Lanka. Phenomenal work.

 

[sachin100]

pak team has a lot to think of . their batting is the most one dimensional in test cricket and in bowling it looks like a one man team of yasir.

 

[AZulfi]

This has got to be Pakistan's worst test performance in recent years. For sure this is a team in transition following the retirements of Misbah and Younis but no one really thought that they would lose 2-nil against a Sri Lankan side itself in a rebuilding phase and missing Angelo Mathews.... and that too in their so-called 'fortress' UAE.

And some people here thought that Pak would win comfortably! They probably don't watch enough cricket. 4th innings batting or batting on a low bounce day 5 pitch full of cracks is a different ball game altogether

Congratulations to Sri Lanka on a well-deserved victory. They were the better team over the two tests

 

[Markhor]

The record had to end some day, but massively disappointing it ended at the hands of a Sri Lanka team that was recently whitewashed 9-0 at home and nearly lost a Test to Zimbabwe. For all our talk of transition, this was a series we should've won. Not chasing 136 in Abu Dhabi was inexcusable.

Credit to Sri Lanka - their pacers outbowled ours and Chandimal seems a more astute captain than Mathews. Karunaratne looked a class act, far better than any of our openers whilst the old sage Herath is still plugging away. They showed far more grit with the bat whereas we arrogantly thought we could blow them away with three pacers in UAE conditions.

Going with three pacers in this series was a HUGE mistake by team management, with Yasir used excessively and the pacers were bowled into the ground. These surfaces offer little pace and bounce, there's no seam or swing so what use are 3 pacers ?

We looked one-paced with the bat and the lack of big partnerships hurt us, only Azhar Ali looks capable of scoring daddy hundreds on a consistent basis in this team. Asad Shafiq disappointed in 3 out of the 4 innings and the openers struggled sometimes to even put away bad balls. Time to send an SOS to Fawad Alam and Usman Salahuddin as this middle-order is brittle.

So who's for the axe ? Shan Masood surely. Babar Azam looks like he needs to get more FC cricket under his belt given how he's struggling to pace himself in the longest format. Mohammad Amir had a poor series highlighting the need for more pace bowling depth in Tests whilst Asad Shafiq's ton in the last game means he stays in the team by the skin of his teeth.

 

[Big Mac]

This has got to be Pakistan's worst test performance in recent years. For sure this is a team in transition following the retirements of Misbah and Younis but no one really thought that they would lose 2-nil against a Sri Lankan side itself in a rebuilding phase and missing Angelo Mathews.... and that too in their so-called 'fortress' UAE.

And some people here thought that Pak would win comfortably! They probably don't watch enough cricket. 4th innings batting or batting on a low bounce day 5 pitch full of cracks is a different ball game altogether

Congratulations to Sri Lanka on a well-deserved victory. They were the better team over the two tests

Neither of the pitches were that bad for batting and even in the first we shouldn't have been chasing 136. We had a bunch of batsmen who managed to get a good start and then failed to convert it into a hundred. In both tests we've lost because of our first innings performances and we can't blame the pitch for that.

 

[Mainul]

Pretty rich coming from you. What are the mighty Bangladeshi doing against SA apart from losing matches in half a session

Bangladesh is not even worthy of discussions.Still a rubbish test team outside their own yard.

 

[Mainul]

Azhar is one of the best test openers in the worls and should move back to that position . Pakistan will do fine wth a better strategy . Now what exactly did you mean by "back to their level " ??

Pakistan got back to the ranking which they really deserves with this team.Need a massive reconstruction of the batting line up if they want to rise from present ranking.

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

i have to say today they started off positively, then Sarfraz started worrying about the new bowl and threw away his wicket.

He needs to learn, great captains dont verbally abuse their own players on the pitch, it sends a negative vibes to the rest, he needs to learn quick or its bye bye...

 

[Sadevdesai]

We have always Overated our Team !!!!!

 

[CadPakFan]

Can't anyone just admit Sri Lanka are actually improving and they were the better team this series.

 

[HateKiller]

i have to say today they started off positively, then Sarfraz started worrying about the new bowl and threw away his wicket.

He needs to learn, great captains dont verbally abuse their own players on the pitch, it sends a negative vibes to the rest, he needs to learn quick or its bye bye...

He abused Shafiq? Why?

 

[waqar goraya]

This is one of the worst losses in the last decade. Getting whitewashed in home series against a thoroughly mediocre side has raised many question marks on this test side.

The batting department is particularly clueless and classless. Guys like Hafeez and Ahmad Shehzad could at least score runs against these mediocre attacks on home soil.
If they can't score in the desert i don't know where they will be able to. Even the so called established ones Azhar and Asad don't have caliber to achieve great things.
If people like Babar and Haris also fail to develop then we might remain at 8-9 number in test cricket.

 

[waqar goraya]

It seems it might take another couple of years before our test side becomes competitive enough. Except Azhar Ali no batsman has established himself in the playing eleven.
And Sarfraz it seems gains a pound every night.

 

[AZulfi]

Neither of the pitches were that bad for batting and even in the first we shouldn't have been chasing 136. We had a bunch of batsmen who managed to get a good start and then failed to convert it into a hundred. In both tests we've lost because of our first innings performances and we can't blame the pitch for that.

We lost because of bad team selection as well. Mickey Arthur may be good from discipline POV but strategically he is dumb.

Why would you persist with 3 seamers on these dead tracks despite the success of finger spinners Herath and Yasir and despite knowing past history in UAE. This was pure madness, a grand strategic failure on his part.

but we cannot just blame him. Captains have a major say in team selection in cricket (this is not soccer!) and Sarfraz should have been more proactive. He should have insisted on playing at least two proper finger spinners and results might have been different. He must share equal blame for this debacle.

 

[Big Mac]

We lost because of bad team selection as well. Mickey Arthur may be good from discipline POV but strategically he is dumb.

Why would you persist with 3 seamers on these dead tracks despite the success of finger spinners Herath and Yasir and despite knowing past history in UAE. This was pure madness, a grand strategic failure on his part.

but we cannot just blame him. Captains have a major say in team selection in cricket (this is not soccer!) and Sarfraz should have been more proactive. He should have insisted on playing at least two proper finger spinners and results might have been different. He must share equal blame for this debacle.

We don't know how much say the captain has in team selection but yeah, going in with three seamers was stupid and we all knew that before a ball was bowled in this series.

We can't even use the excuse of a day/night test with the pink ball for the second test because we knew from last years Day/Night test that you still need an extra spinner.

Sri Lanka learned from what we did and they copied our tactics, Pakistan decided to abandon the tried and tested strategy for reasons that make no sense to me.

 

[GreatPK]

Maybe nobody anticipated this but I always knew this day was coming. And the reason I've had this opinion long before the SL series was because of a few facts. First of all, Azhar Ali and Shafiq are talented but to put it bluntly, they are not as talented as Misbah and Younis. You compare the quality of both these two with the vetrans and there is no escaping the fact, we no longer have that quality in our team. 2nd reason is that we are a team of limited batting resources. You combine that with selection debacles and nepotism and you end up with even lesser net potential. e.g. why is Fawad alam not in the team and Shaan Masood is? you can be all political and apologetic about it but I tend to call it as it is, a corrupt and rotten system. And lastly, as a consequence of being limited on resources, there was no way for us to still be a better test team after winning CT. If you look at our so called "Bright" record in UAE, almost everyone beaten us in ODI's here, so no surprises that we won CT and are miserable in tests.

 

[SL_Fan]

Congrats to Lanka [MENTION=132270]SL_Fan[/MENTION] they outplayed Pakistan on every level and deserve to end the UAE streak, Pakistan may have been a bit inactive prior to this series but Lanka are a low ranked team which had been severely demoralised by India yet they still showed up to win and fought really well throughout the series.

Cheers bro boys played well. Trying to replace YK and Misbah is going to take some time but that was an amazing fightback from Pakistan in the second innings. I'm sure Sarfraz and co will take a lot out of that. Good luck for the LOIs champ.