By Pakistan will look to use its new-found batting aggression to double up against Sri Lanka in the second Test starting from Monday, after securing its first long-format victory for a year.
Pakistan arrived in Sri Lanka without a Test win to its name in 12 months but despite a wobbly final innings chase a four-wicket victory in Galle means it needs only a draw in Colombo to win the two-match series.
SL vs PAK 1st Test: Pakistan beats Sri Lanka by 4 wickets, goes 1-0 up
A determined effort to raise its run rate with a more positive approach paid dividends, scoring at more than 4.5 per over for much of its first innings and putting the Sri Lankan bowlers under pressure.
It is an approach that has echoes of England’s new “Bazball” style. The first hundred of Saud Shakeel’s double century came off just 129 balls, his 177-run partnership with Agha Salman laying the foundation for Pakistan’s 149-run first-innings lead.
After the last Test cycle, Pakistan’s management was “very firm” that one of the reasons the team was not winning matches was that “we weren’t scoring at such a high rate as the opposition”, Shan Masood had said.
There had been a “concentrated effort” at pre-tour training camps in Lahore and Karachi, he added.
“The emphasis was on scoring runs just to sort of put the opposition under pressure and that put us back in the game,” said Masood, who scored 39 off 30 balls in the first innings in Galle.
Pakistan may want to include another seamer as the Singhalese Sports Club track is known to provide bounce and movement, but will have to consider whether to make changes to a winning side.
Dropped catches and poor DRS reviews
Sri Lanka will have to improve its fielding effort if it aims to win the match and draw the series.
Other than Dhananjaya de Silva – who made 122 and 82 – its batsmen failed to deliver in Galle, many of them getting into the 20s and 30s but not building on the starts.
The host will be keen to have Asitha Fernando back in the side ahead of Kasun Rajitha, who took 1-77 in 19 first-innings overs and was not called on in Pakistan’s second innings.
Fernando had to sit out the first Test, recovering from dengue fever. Sri Lanka’s catching was poor – Shakeel was dropped on 93 and 139 – and the captain took poor reviews.
Dimuth Karunaratne acknowledged invoking DRS was his call as captain but said he made his decisions “based on the feedback from the bowler and wicket-keeper.”
“The misjudging of reviews is a loss for the team and can be crucial during a tight game. We will have to focus on making the right use of reviews and what could be done differently,” he said.
Sri Lanka has won 20 of the 43 Tests played at SSC and lost only nine, including the most recent Test it hosted, against England five years ago. Pakistan has played at the venue on six occasions and has won one, and lost one with the rest drawn.
