SL vs PAK, 2nd Test: Dhananjaya's ton highlights Day 4
Pakistan have lost just the one wicket in their chase of 508 versus Sri Lanka in the ongoing second Test in Galle. Bad light forced early stumps as 26 overs were lost on Wednesday. Sri Lanka started the day on 176/5 before going on to get 360/8d. Dhananjaya de Silva smashed a brilliant century. Pakistan are 89/1 at stumps.
Dimuth Karunaratne and de Silva resumed Day 4 on scores of 27* and 30* respectively. The two had come together on Tuesday when the score read 117/5. On Wednesday, they converted their stand to 100-plus runs. Karunaratne went on to make a gritty 61. de Silva then went on to register a century. He made 109 runs from 171 balls.
Dhananjaya was the rock in this Lankan side. After adding 100-plus runs alongside Karunaratne, he went on to stitch an 82-run stand with tail-ender Ramesh Mendis, who returned unbeaten on 45. These two stands floored the visitors. Dhananjaya looked so assured during his stay and played the ball late. He brought up his 9th Test century, including a second versus Pakistan.
Credit should go to Ramesh Mendis, who came in applied himself. The message was to get quick runs and he did that with ease. He scored a 54-ball 45*, hitting five boundaries. The 80-plus stand helped SL gain a lead over 500.
Pakistani bowlers didn't have any momentum at all. They failed to tie down the Lankan batters and there wasn't enough pressure. It was a frustrating day altogether and Babar Azam won't be happy. They managed just three wickets and one of them was a run-out. Hasan Ali was smashed for three fours in an over by Ramesh Mendis.
Pakistan lost the wicket of Abdullah Shafique early on. He perished for a 51-ball 16. Prabath Jayasuriya claimed his wicket. Since then, Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam have dug in. They have added 47 runs and will want to show more character on Thursday.
