Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the second Test by an innings and 222 runs thanks to a brilliant seven-wicket haul from Noman Ali and a first-innings double century from Abdullah Shafique.
Pakistan thrash Sri Lanka in Test: After a convincing victory, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka in their own territory for the first time since 1994 with a clean sweep.
Pakistan, who are now leading the standings with a perfect winning record, had a bright start to their World Test Championship (WTC) 2023–25 campaign with the 2-0 series triumph.
Ramesh Mendis and Angelo Mathews continued Sri Lanka’s difficult second innings and were able to add another 34 runs to their seventh-wicket partnership when Noman struck once more and had Mendis stumped on 16.
After Mendis left the game, Naseem Shah finished out Sri Lanka’s remaining three batters by dismissing them for a duck, giving Pakistan a resounding victory.
In the second innings, Noman Ali led Pakistan’s bowling assault with 7/70, followed by Naseem Shah with 3/44.
At Tea on Day 4, Sri Lanka was in trouble after falling to 143/6 and needing 267 more runs to avoid losing the innings.
Noman Ali took five more wickets to further worry Sri Lanka after giving Pakistan a much-needed breakthrough in the opening session.
Before leaving for tea, Angelo Mathews (38) and Ramesh Mendis (0) were on the pitch for the home team.
Noman-led With just four wickets remaining, Pakistan won another session of the ongoing second Test, sweeping Sri Lanka in their own backyard for the first time since 1994.
After lunch, Sri Lanka’s innings was resumed at 81/1. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis might have added five more runs to their expanding second-wicket stand, but Noman outperformed the former.
Karunaratne scored 41 points off of 61 balls while scoring six extra-pointers.
As a result of the extra bounce getting the better of him, Mendis shortly followed Karunaratne and handed a simple catch to Saud Shakeel off Noman Ali.
“Noman Ali’s Heroics Put Pakistan in Command as Sri Lanka Struggles in Second Test”
To further compound Sri Lanka’s woes, the left-arm spinner hit three more times in quick succession, taking out Dinesh Chandimal (1), Dhananjaya de Silva (10) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (5).
Thanks to Noman’s heroics, Pakistan entered the interval needing just four more wickets to successfully wrap up their Test tour of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was 81/1 and 319 runs behind on the penultimate day of the second Test when lunchtime rolled around.
The first innings of the visiting team was picked back up by Pakistan’s overnight combination of Salman Ali Agha and Mohammad Rizwan at 563/5 on the fourth day.
When Pakistan reached 576/5 and had a commanding 410-run advantage, Babar Azam ultimately called for the declaration. Wicketkeeper batsman Rizwan quickly reached his half-century before Babar Azam made the announcement.
In just 67 deliveries, Mohammad Rizwan scored 50 runs without being out thanks to four boundaries and a six.
Salman Ali Agha, a centurion for Pakistan, continued his unblemished record with a 154-ball 132 that included 15 boundaries and a six.
Abdullah Shafique, who batted for more than eight hours and reached his first double century, continued to lead Pakistan in scoring with 201. He hit 19 boundaries and four sixes while surrendering 326 deliveries.
“Crucial Half-Centuries Propel Pakistan to Victory in the Series Against Sri Lanka”
Along with them, left-handed batters Shan Masood (51) and Saud Shakeel (57) scored half-centuries each, which was crucial.
With Pakistan leading the two-match series 1-0, Sri Lanka had a steep hill to climb to prevent a loss and a clean sweep.
Nishan Madushka and Dimuth Karunaratne, the opening pair for the home team, batted intelligently for 69 runs until Noman Ali bowled the former to help Pakistan draw a much-needed victory.
Madushka struck four boundaries and a six in her valiant 33-point performance from 72 balls.
Before the lunch break was called, Kusal Mendis joined his captain Karunaratne in the middle and helped their burgeoning partnership score 12 runs.
Mendis was 11 not out and Karunaratne was undefeated at 36 at the break.