da bwin： The Pakistan bowlers gatecrashed Mahela Jayawardene’s farewell party with a disciplined display on an unresponsive pitch at the SSC
da bet sport： The Report by Devashish Fuloria14-Aug-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsPakistan gave Mahela Jayawardene a guard of honour but were relieved to see his back not long after•AFP
Smart Stats
1001 Runs scored by Angelo Mathews in 2014; he becomes the first Sri Lanka captain to aggregate 1000 or more runs in a calendar year. The previous highest was Mahela Jayawardene’s 983 runs as captain in 2006. Mathews is the second batsman this year to score 1000 runs in Tests this year after Kumar Sangakkara.
9 Number of times Saeed Ajmal has dismissed Jayawardene in Tests, which is the most any bowler has dismissed him. Jayawardene has hit 224 runs off Ajmal in 20 innings at an average of 24.88 per dismissal. For Ajmal too, this is the most he has dismissed any batsman in Tests.
2006 The last time Jayawardene and Sangakkara both failed to score at least 30 in an innings in Tests at the SSC, Colombo, before this one. The last such instance also came against Pakistan, when Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul had the hosts reeling at 26 for 4 in the first innings of the Test.
2007 The last time before this Test eight or more wickets fell in the first day’s play at the SSC, Colombo. On that occasion, Sri Lanka bowled out Bangladesh for just 89 runs after asking them to bat first. The hosts lost three wickets before the close of play, taking the wickets tally to 13 on day one. Since then, teams have averaged 48.9 runs per wicket on the first day at this venue as opposed to 32.6 in this Test.
11 Number of Sri Lanka openers who have got out in the nineties in Tests including Upul Tharanga in this Test. Including Tharanga’s, the last three such instances have come against Pakistan. Sri Lanka’s other opener, Kaushal Silva, also got out on 95 against Pakistan in Dubai earlier this year.
Six thousand two hundred and twenty one days after earning his Test cap at the nearby Premadasa Stadium, Mahela Jayawardene’s life as a Test cricketer came a full circle as he strode out for the last lap at the SSC, his favourite venue. Everything seemed like it was as per the script: bright skies, a firm pitch with nothing for the bowlers, Sri Lanka winning the toss and opting to bat and a solid platform by the openers. The farewell of one Sri Lanka’s best batsman couldn’t have been planned any better. Except, the Pakistan bowlers had their own agenda.Jayawardene arrived at the crease for the 251st time, to a guard of honour by the Pakistan team and with the crackle of the firecrackers in the background, 25 minutes before tea. He was 137 short of 3000 runs at the venue but could only shave off four runs in a nervous stay that ended in the first over after tea. In the 16 deliveries that he faced, he was dropped once by the wicketkeeper off Junaid Khan before he was trapped by a sharp offspinner from Saeed Ajmal. He chose not to review, and rightly so.Misbah-ul-Haq may have patted Jayawardene’s back but at that moment, the relief of having dismissed Kumar Sangakkara, their tormentor in Galle, was still writ on Pakistan captain’s face. In a rare failure, Sangakkara had been dismissed for 22 as he chopped on a length delivery from Wahab Riaz. He had added 65 for the second wicket with Upul Tharanga, who scored 92, at 4.33 runs an over. Jayawardene’s dismissal soon after gave Pakistan the upper hand. The bowlers struck five more times in the third session to take control.It was a solid effort from Pakistan on a pitch that had nothing for the bowlers. They stuck to disciplined lines and found the odd bit of life. Fortunately for Pakistan, it was one of those days where almost every time the ball did something, it induced a fatal error from the batsmen. That Pakistan had eight wickets by the end of the day despite dropping a few catches was evidence of the number of chances created.Junaid got the odd ball to move off the pitch, Wahab, playing his first Test in three years, generated hustling pace, Abdur Rehman was disciplined throughout and Ajmal did better than the Mars Rover by finding life where there was none. And that, despite not being able to find a breakthrough in the first 33 overs during which it looked like the pitch was a bowler’s graveyard.Then, Junaid went round the stumps, pushed the compact Kaushal Silva back with a sharp bouncer, before luring the batsman into a loose drive off a widish-length delivery. Sarfraz Ahmed did the rest, taking a sharp chance low to his left, ending the opening stand at 79 – Sri Lanka’s best since the 118-run stand in Dhaka in January. Silva, who had picked up five boundaries through point off Wahab, was dismissed for 41.It was Wahab, though, who caught the biggest fish, picking up the wicket of Sangakkara. Initially a bit wayward, Wahab corrected his radar and posed problems with his pace. He troubled Tharanga with short ones and eventually picked up the opener through a sharp catch by Azhar Ali at short leg.Till then, Tharanga had looked on course for his second Test century despite not being the most fluent. Junaid induced a couple of false strokes from him in the first over as some deliveries seamed away, he was beaten by Ajmal’s turn, survived a stumping chance on 28 and picked up some runs off edges. But he also picked up 12 boundaries, most of them emphatic hits through off. One such shot – a fierce cut off Wahab – helped him cross fifty for the fifth time in Tests.Ajmal had troubled Tharanga through the innings. In his fourth over, he beat an advancing Tharanga in the air only to see the wicketkeeper miss the stumping. The blame could hardly be laid on Sarfraz, though, because the ball had kicked off the pitch, smacking the keeper on the side of the head for which he required some treatment. The bowler also drew an outside edge off Tharanga but that dropped short of Younis Khan at first slip. But a sign of Tharanga’s growing confidence was his two boundaries – both through the covers – off the spinner in the 47th over. However, he was dismissed 10 runs after Jayawardene’s departure, leaving the repair job with Angelo Mathews.But all Mathews could do was watch as Pakistan picked up wickets at regular intervals at the other end. Junaid trapped Niroshan Dickwella and Dilruwan Perera lbw in the first over with the second new ball, the DRS ruling in Pakistan’s favour in both cases. Mathews joined the others in the pavilion soon, edging a short of length delivery from Wahab to the keeper, down the leg side. He reviewed, but lost. Strangely, the DRS had not been used during the first 80 overs at all. It was that sort of a day.
