Sri Lanka grinding towards series victory over Pakistan

Pakistan lose six wickets on day of attritional play

Sri Lankan bowler Shaminda Eranga celebrates the dismissal of Pakistani batsman Asad Shafiq on Saturday during third day of the third Test in Sharjah. Ishara S Kodikara / AFP

SHARJAH // These are troubling times for Test cricket. If the megalomaniacal cabal of three leading nations do not kill off the game’s supposed pinnacle of achievement, then playing surfaces like this one in Sharjah will.

For the duration of this series, the format has seemed like a dead man walking, anyway.

If only a handful of people turn up to watch a form of the sport that is said to be its ultimate, why is it worth saving?

Then, if it needs tipping over the edge, what about bowling the ball wide outside leg for long spells, as Rangana Herath did as part of a Sri Lankan plan for much of Saturday.

Bowling dry? This cricket could not be more arid if it was played in the lee of the Big Red sand dune on the Dubai-Hatta motorway.

“I was surprised with their negative approach, although they had 400 runs on the board,” said Ahmed Shahzad, the Pakistan century-maker. “They had packed the leg side. There are some captains who are aggressive and then there are some who are defensive.”

Sri Lanka do have a Test series to win and Kumar Sangakkara, one of two former captains in their XI, said the game plan was justified.

“A lot of batsmen don’t have a lot of patience,” Sangakkara said. “If you bowl those kinds of lines, it seems negative when you look at it from the outside, but the plan was quite positive, to try and get them to hit against the line and get one to turn out of the rough.

“Pakistan have to push to win the series, so they have to go for broke. Our job is to hold our nerve and absorb the pressure. A lot of people have different ideas about what Test cricket should be.

“What Test cricket should produce is a great contest, the test of patience and skill of the players where it is hard to get runs, but it is hard to get wickets as well.”

Shahzad eventually succumbed to Herath’s version of leg-theory when he reverse-swept the ball onto his stumps. He said he felt the tactic betrayed signs of fear from the Sri Lankans.

“We had to move the scoreboard, we had no choice. We had lost one match,” Shahzad said. “It’s a do-or-die match for us. They can’t bowl us out with negative bowling in a proper Test match – it’s not possible. They were afraid after lunch that we were going after scoring.”