Pakistan pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah struck in quick sessions to leave Sri Lanka rattling at Lunch on the opening day of the ongoing Colombo Test.
At the stroke of Lunch, Sri Lanka were 79/4 with Dhananjaya de Silva (33) and Dinesh Chandimal (9) unbeaten at the crease.
Sri Lanka, opting to bat first in the second Test of the ongoing two-match series, led by Pakistan 1-0, got off to a shaky start to their innings.
The hosts coped with an unfortunate blow when opener Nishan Madushka (4) got run out, courtesy of a sharp fielding effort by Shan Masood, who charged in from short extra cover and nailed a one-handed direct hit onto the stumps.
Shaheen Shah Afridi then pushed Sri Lanka further on the backfoot when he got Kusal Mendis (6) caught at point.
Naseem Shah then added further to the misery of the home side as he struck twice in quick succession to leave them reeling at 36/4.
The right-arm pacer implemented a perfect trap to get rid of Angelo Matthews as he bowled continuously around the outside-off channel before finally inducing an edge of Matthews’s bat, who could score a mere nine.
Naseem then bamboozled Karunaratne with a sensational delivery. The right-arm pacer, after bowling a couple of outswingers, deceived the Sri Lankan captain with a lovely in-dipper and hit the timber.
Karunaratne played a cautious 17-run knock which featured three boundaries.
Following the shaky start, Sri Lanka’s first-match mainstay with the bat, Dhananjaya de Silva, once again clung on for the hosts and launched a recovery with Dinesh Chandimal.
The pair by the end of the first session, had added 43 runs to the total with de Silva leading the charge.
In an enthralling first session, dominated by Pakistan, Naseem Shah picked up two wickets while Shaheen struck once.
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