Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi marked his return to Test cricket with a three-wicket haul as Sri Lanka slumped to 4-65 at lunch on the weather-hit first day of the collection opener towards Pakistan in Galle.
Pakistan’s two fast bowlers Afridi and Nassem Shah troubled the Sri Lankan batters on Sunday and Naseem was unfortunate to not choose up a couple of wicket.
Afridi grew to become the nineteenth Pakistan bowler, and the fourth-fastest, to achieve the 100-wicket milestone when he had opener Nishan Madushka (4) caught behind when wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed took a diving catch.
Having been caught on 99 wickets after injuring a knee one 12 months in the past whereas diving to chop off a boundary on the similar floor, the 23-year-old was jubilant on reaching three figures.
A heavy downpour after lower than half-hour of play compelled the gamers off the bottom, with 87 minutes misplaced and the lunch break prolonged by one hour.
After play resumed, Afridi claimed his second wicket when Kusal Mendis edged a ball to second slip on 12.
Captain Dimuth Karunaratne was the left-arm fast’s third sufferer as he was caught down the leg-side on 29.
In the subsequent over, Dinesh Chandimal nicked Naseem to first slip after scoring only one run to push Sri Lanka deep into hassle.
Angelo Mathews survived a couple of nervous second and was on 12 with Dhananjaya de Silva on seven heading into the second session of the day.
The match is the primary of a two-Test collection, with the second to start on July 24 in Colombo.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
