Close: Sri Lanka 420-5
Sri Lanka went a long way towards pulling off their second great escape at the Zayed Cricket stadium and can now realistically harbour visions of going one further than their last, drawn Test in Abu Dhabi two years ago. Then Kumar Sangakkara’s double hundred and a number of dropped catches allowed Sri Lanka to draw the game.
Here, Angelo Mathews’ second Test century might even have left them with a chance to win it, having conceded a 179-run lead on first innings. Mathews batted through the final session in company with Prasanna Jayawardene to leave Sri Lanka on 420 for five. The lead now is 241, Sri Lanka’s dominance evident in Pakistan taking just one wicket all day.
Mathews continued mostly as he had done through the day, waiting for balls that played to his strengths to put away. Two overs after tea he first played a beautiful, minimalist straight drive off Bilawal Bhatti and then clipped him immediately through midwicket to move to 96.
He slowed a little but reached his second Test hundred, with an elegant clip off his hips to square leg for two: it was a mammoth effort, spread over five hours at the crease. Next ball, as he played a studious forward defensive, he was settling himself in all over again.
Jayawardene was good company throughout, defensive at first before slowly opening up towards the end of the day. He hooked Rahat Ali for a wonderful six and pulled out a couple of wonderful drives in an unbroken 96-run stand.
Just towards the end of play, the pair seemed to step up the scoring rate a little too, perhaps indication that they might even push for a win now on the final day: after the way they began this Test, that would be a remarkable achievement.
Tea: Sri Lanka 355-5
Sri Lanka have turned around this Test and if their batting through the afternoon has not inched them closer to victory, it has taken them further and further away from defeat. With four sessions of the first Test against Pakistan left at the Zayed Cricket stadium, their lead now stands at 176.
The centre of their turnaround was the captain Angelo Mathews, who overcame the loss of Dinesh Chandimal four overs before the drinks break, to keep carrying Sri Lanka upwards. Mathews was unbeaten on 87 at tea and Prasanna Jayawardene had taken over from Chandimal, providing doughty company. Sri Lanka were 355 for five.
Mathews is having an outstanding Test with the bat and if anymore example was needed for his batsmen after the first-innings 91, it came here. Having come out to bat the start of the day, he had been batting for four and a half hours until tea.
The afternoon had begun brightly for both sides. Chandimal drove Saeed Ajmal elegantly through extra covers for four, but offered his first chance in the very next over. Bilawal Bhatti found some lift and as he had done in the first innings, Chandimal chased and edged it: Ahmed Shahzad at slip misjudged the flight of the ball and let it through. Normally, Younis Khan would have been there but he was behind the stumps, covering for Adnan Akmal who fractured a finger taking a catch yesterday.
The miss was not especially costly, though it did eat up more time. Chandimal was finally dismissed, top-edging a sharp Junaid Khan bouncer to deep fine leg. That ended a 138-run stand that has changed the course of this Test.
Mathews offered no such chances, choosing solidity over run-scoring. There was some good strokeplay; one pull wide of mid-on off Bhatti, a slash off Ajmal through third man and an easy clip through midwicket off Rahat Ali.
As they had been in the morning, Pakistan were not bad with the ball. But they did not look particularly incisive either, not least the man who has bailed them out so often in the past, Ajmal.
Lunch: Sri Lanka 285-4
Sri Lanka continued the fight they had shown all through the third day, getting through a prolonged fourth morning, on Friday, without losing a wicket.
Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews put on an unbroken 99-run stand to take their side to 285 for four. They now have a lead of 106 over Pakistan and the Zayed Cricket Stadium is witness to what is turning out to be a remarkable turnaround.
The pair were rock-solid through two and a half hours, not running away with their scoring, but instead pricking Pakistan’s hopes with a series of small incisions.
Chandimal pulled Bilawal Bhatti for an authoritative four for the day’s first boundary in the fourth over and runs began to trickle through. Just before drinks, he glanced Saeed Ajmal fine for another boundary, bringing up his fifth Test fifty, from 80 balls. That extended a fine recent run for one of Sri Lanka’s most promising batsmen, his third fifty – in addition to two hundreds – in his past five Tests.
Mathews, the captain, who has had a fine Test already and was unlucky to miss a hundred on the first day, was more sedate.
In the same over that Chandimal reached his fifty, he danced down to launch Ajmal over long-on for six. When the new ball was taken in the very first over after drinks, he coolly deflected Bhatti off his hips to square leg. Earlier in the session a stinging drive through mid-off off Rahat Ali had confirmed the kind of form he was in.
The run-rate was not an issue, but survival was also looking increasingly assured. Mathews eventually reached his second fifty of the game, off 113 balls, by which point Sri Lanka were looking in control. A couple of late scares did nothing to change that equation: Chandimal almost popped a return catch to Ajmal in the second last over before the break and Mathews then edged through a vacant second slip for a four.
Pakistan were flat through much of the morning, and even the second new ball did not bring them to life. Junaid Khan, Bhatti and Rahat occasionally threatened, but crucially, the pair played Ajmal with great confidence.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
