Pakistan skipper Babar Azam took a sharp one-handed catch while fielding at first slip to dismiss Angelo Matthews on Day 4 of the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium.
The ongoing series marks the beginning of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle for both sides. Sri Lanka had scored 312 in the first innings on the back of Dhananjaya de Silva’s 10th Test ton.
With the help of Saud Shakeel’s unbeaten double ton in the first innings, the visitors took the lead and have never looked back. Pakistan posted 461 runs with Shakeel remaining not out on 208 and Agha Salman making 83 runs.
The senior Sri Lankan batsmen had the responsibility of getting them out of danger in their second innings and eliminating the deficit. The hosts lost the wickets of Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis within 25 overs after resuming from their overnight score of 18-0.
Spin was applied from both ends to Angelo Mathews, who scored 64 runs off 109 pitches in the first inning. A pitch that had just straightened after being pitched was finally edged by the right-handed batter who was defending.
In order to execute the catch, Babar Azam, who was positioned at slip, dove full length to his weaker left side and stretched his arm.
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Abrar Ahmed and Noman Ali, the spin twins from Pakistan, are making Sri Lanka work hard for their runs on a pitch that is exhibiting significant turn and, to make matters worse, intermittent bounce as well.
Sri Lanka Struggling After Lunch In Second Innings With A Minimal Lead
Sri Lanka resumed their innings after lunch from 94/3, but since then have struggled to get a grasp on the pitch. Dhananjaya de Silva himself got very close to scoring centuries in both innings of a Test, but was dismissed for 82 runs by Shaheen Afridi.
At the time of writing this, Sri Lanka was 270/8 with a lead of 121 runs.