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| Wednesday, 20 October 2004 |
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Lanka ready to perform well in Faisalabad Chris Dhambarage reporting from Pakistan FAISALABAD. Pakistan, The Sri Lankan cricketers will return to the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad here Wednesday after a lapse of nine years to play the first of two Test matchess against Pakistan. The Lankans will be hoping to draw inspiration from their previous visit to this venue where they triumphed by 42 runs under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga in the 1995 series. The only surviving member from that victorious team is fast bowler Chaminda Vaas who had a fantastic game with both bat and ball. Even then Sri Lanka's matchwinner was ace off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who went on to claim the world record for the most number of test wickets. Muralitharan captured seven wickets on a track that helped the batsman and was selected as the man of the match. Muralitharan's five wicket haul helped Sri Lanka restrict Pakistan to 333 in their first innings after they were well set to pile up a total of over 400 runs. Opener Saeed Anwar, skipper Rameez Raja and Inzamam ul Haq all completed half centuries to put the home side in a commanding position. But Muralitharan brought Sri Lanka back into the game with a sustained spell of spin bowling which earned him a five wicket haul from 23.3 overs. As a result Pakistan could obtain only a first innings lead of 110 runs after Sri Lanka had earlier folded up for a modest 223 having being put into bat. The Sri Lankan innings was boosted by a magnificent century from the reliable left hander Hashan Tillekeratne who stroked a patient 115 from 226 minutes with 20 fours. Tillekeratne's effort was a fantastic one considering the fact that he was up against a strong bowling attack which included Wasim Akram, Mohammed Akram, Aaqib Javed and Saqlain Mushtaq. Tillekeratne held the Sri Lankan middle order together after the top order had collapsed with the only support coming from the bat of wicket keeper batsman Chamara Dunusighe and Chaminda Vaas. But Pakistan finished the opening day on top as they made 43 for 1 in reply to Sri Lanka's total of 223 runs. In the second innings too Sri Lanka got off to a bad start losing opener Roshan Mahanama and Asanka Gurusinha cheaply. But Aravinda de Silva joined Chandika Hathurusinghe and the pair put Sri Lanka back on the track with a third wicket stand of 176 runs. Hathurusinghe following his stubborn knock of 47 in the first innings batted once again with a lot of determination to hit a solid 83 while occupying for crease for over six hours. The Sri Lankan innings was then further consolidated by Aravinda de Silva who really made amends for his first innings failure with a majestic 105. He handled the Pakistan pace attack quite effectively picking the correct ball to hit during a fine exhibition of batting which lasted for more than six hours. However Sri Lanka suffered a major setback losing the first innings centurion Hashan Tillekeratne for a duck and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga also failing to make an impact for the second time in the match. But Sri Lanka simply proved that they have a great amount of depth in their batting with Kumar Dharmasena completing a near half century while batting under tremendous pressure. The all rounder frustrated the Pakistanis for nearly three hours with some dogged batting as Sri Lanka extended their overall lead to 252 runs. Another all rounder Chaminda Vaas too rose to the occasion with a useful 40 runs from only 51 deliveries with seven hits to the ropes as Pakistan badly felt the absence of their main strike bowler Wasim Akram in the second innings. As a result Sri Lankan hit up a commanding 361 in their second innings while setting Pakistan a victory target of 252 runs with just over one days play remaining. Batting on the fifth and final day was always a tough task for the Pakistan team even though they had some of the best stroke makers like Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, Ramiz Raja and Inzamam ul Haq. They really succumbed under pressure and never recovered after having collapsed to 129 for 6 at one stage. Muralitharan was responsible for the early damage as he captured the two most important wickets of Ramiz Raja and Inzamam ul Haq cheaply. Sri Lanka never looked back from thereonwards and wrapped up the game by dismissing the Pakistanis for 209 in their second innings. This victory also helped Sri Lanka square the series one all having lost the opening test to Pakistan badly. The scoreboard in the previous Faisalabad test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka played from September 15 to 19, 1995. |
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