Saud Shakeel continued his robust run of kind by posting a second century to provide Pakistan a slim first-innings lead at lunch on day three of the series-opening Test in opposition to Sri Lanka.
The left-handed batter was unbeaten on 119 as Pakistan reached the primary interval on Tuesday at 6-313, a lead of 1 run after a rain-affected morning session at Galle.
Shakeel made his Test debut final December and has now posted two centuries and 5 half-centuries in simply six matches at a Bradmanesque common of 87.
After resuming on his in a single day rating of 69, Shakeel is now getting nearer to his career-best Test rating of 125.
Pakistan weren’t sitting so comfortably after they have been diminished to 5-101 , however a report 177-run partnership between Agha Salman (83) and Shakeel rescued the guests’ innings.
The sixth-wicket pair placed on a report for Pakistan in Tests in opposition to Sri Lanka, bettering on the 173-run partnership between Sarfaraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq at Dubai in 2017.
Pakistan’s standard model of batting within the earlier cycle of the ICC’s Test Championship earned the group some criticism, and so they appear to have taken England’s instance in response by scoring at occasions at a price of just about 5 runs an over.
Both batters weren’t afraid to make use of their toes to the spinners and punished the unfastened deliveries, pushing Sri Lanka into defensive mindset.
Noman Ali, unbeaten on 13, offered strong firm in a 35-run unbroken stand for the seventh wicket with Shakeel, who has up to now hit 10 boundaries and confronted 164 deliveries.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
