Pakistan earn first Test series victory on home soil in 13 years

S.M. HUSSAIN: Sri Lanka may have lost the game on the field, but they have won the hearts of the people of Pakistan

Scorecard

It took only sixteen balls (14 minutes) for the home team to wrap up the Sri Lankan second innings and secure the first series victory on Pakistan soil in thirteen years. The home team securing a 263-run victory and 1-0 series lead.

Naseem Shah took a wicket with the last ball of the fourth day’s play and claimed another with the very first delivery of the day five. Lasith Embuldeniya on the receiving end of a nasty bouncer which he gloved to the keeper, Rizwan. Naseem Shah was on a hat-trick, but Fernando somehow survived Shah’s four deliveries.

In the very next over the other Shah got the other Fernando – Yasir Shah taking the wicket of the centurion Oshanda Fernando when he guided a simple catch to Asad Shafiq standing in the slips. It was game, set and match when Naseem Shah yorked Vishwa Fernando and the ball thumped into his back pad and umpire Joel Wilson raised his finger.    

Sri Lanka may have lost the game on the field, but they have won the hearts of the people of Pakistan. After the match, there were handshakes and an exchange of pleasantries all around. This series was played in excellent spirit and it must be said that ‘spirit of the game’ was the winner in the end. After play, the Pakistan team visited the Sri Lankan dressing room and thanked every member of the team for making this series possible.

Today, Naseem Shah (16 years and 311 days) became the first fast bowler and overall second youngest bowler to take five wickets in Test match history. His countryman and namesake – the left-arm spinner Nasim-ul-Ghani is the record-holder who was 16 years and 303 days old when he took 5 for 116 against West Indies at Georgetown in 1958.

^{Naseem Shah}

It was a dream Test debut for Abid Ali, no wonder he was named man of the match and man of the series. He said: “There could be no bigger, proud moment for me than this. My success came due to self-belief and confidence.”      

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne said: “We dominated the first two days, 80 runs lead was pretty good, but Pakistan came back strongly; we were trying too many things so we gave away too many runs. Oshanda’s hundred was a positive point. He’s a good tough character. Lahiru also bowled well.

On his visit to Pakistan, he said: “It’s really safe here, we went out for dinner and shopping. We’ll try to come back again and I’d like to thank people of Pakistan for their hospitality.”                

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali said: “We needed that performance. We thank Sri Lanka from the bottom of our hearts. They have given a lot of happiness to Pakistan. It was an emotional moment to play Test after ten years at home.”

About his personal and team performance he said: “The tone was set by the openers – Shan Masood and Abid Ali and our fast bowlers took care of the rest. It was long due and I was practicing hard. If you play at home and perform you take that good performance with you when you play away series.”

At the end of the two-Test series, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with 80 points each are standing at third and fourth positions respectively in the ICC Test Championship table.  

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