CRICKET PASSION: Pakistan Beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets in 2nd Test

Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal took his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests as Pakistan completed a facile nine-wicket win within four days in the second Test against Sri Lanka on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Needing 94 for victory, opener Mohammad Hafeez

remained unbeaten after scoring a quickfire 59 and knocked off the runs with Azhar Ali (29) after Pakistan lost Taufeeq Umar early.

Pakistan bundled out Sri Lanka for 257 in their second innings and restricted the visitors' lead to a paltry 93.

The 34-year old Ajmal with five for 68 led the Pakistan spinners, who took eight out of the 10 second innings wickets to fall, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Ajmal ran through the Sri Lankan tail, keeping the batsmen guessing with his 'doosras', after fellow left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman (2-65) broke a stubborn seventh wicket stand by dismissing Dhammika Prasad.

Angelo Mathews (52 not out) and Prasad (33) added 56 for the seventh wicket to take the lead closer to the 100-run mark.

Pakistan dismissed opener Tharanga Paranavitana (72) and wicketkeeper batsman Kaushal Silva (eight) before tea after scalping Sri Lanka's batting mainstays Kumar Sangakkara (30), Mahela Jayawardene (5) and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan (3) in the morning.

Sangakkara, who scored a double century to save Sri Lanka in the first Test in Abu Dhabi, added 73 for the second wicket with Paranavitana before he was given out lbw to Rehman.

A fuming Sangakkara stormed back to the pavilion, clearly unhappy with the decision, and was soon followed by Jayawardene, who struggled during his 34-ball stay before being bowled around his legs while trying to sweep Ajmal.

Captain Dilshan was undone by some superb reverse swing bowling from left-arm seamer Junaid Khan and was struck right in front of the stumps to a delivery that came in after pitching.

Junaid bowled around the stumps to the right-handers and was able to get the old ball to swing both ways, making life difficult for the batsmen on a wearing pitch.

Pakistan are playing "home" Tests in the Gulf region because of security fears in their own country. The final match of the series is at Sharjah from Nov. 3.

Pakistan v Sri Lanka Test Series - 2nd Test
Pakistan v Sri Lanka
Pakistan won by 9 wickets

Test no. 2011 | 2011/12 season
Played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium (neutral venue)
26,27,28,29 October 2011 (5-day match)


Sri Lanka 1st innings		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
NT Paranavitana	c Misbah-ul-Haq b Umar Gul	6	42	29	0	0	20.68
HDRL Thirimanne	lbw b Umar Gul	1	11	3	0	0	33.33
KC Sangakkara	c Asad Shafiq b Abdur Rehman	78	195	122	11	0	63.93
DPMD Jayawardene	c Misbah-ul-Haq b Umar Gul	6	3	4	1	0	150.00
TM Dilshan*	c Misbah-ul-Haq b Junaid Khan	7	13	8	1	0	87.50
AD Mathews	c †Adnan Akmal b Junaid Khan	19	52	42	3	0	45.23
JK Silva†	lbw b Abdur Rehman	20	46	36	2	0	55.55
KTGD Prasad	c †Adnan Akmal b Saeed Ajmal	7	35	29	1	0	24.13
HMRKB Herath	c Younis Khan b Saeed Ajmal	29	112	67	2	0	43.28
UWMBCA Welegedara	st †Adnan Akmal b Saeed Ajmal	48	129	127	4	2	37.79
RAS Lakmal	not out	0	16	13	0	0	0.00
Extras	(b 5, lb 7, nb 6)	18

Total	(all out; 79 overs; 327 mins)	239	(3.02 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-3 (Thirimanne, 2.2 ov), 2-24 (Paranavitana, 8.2 ov), 3-30 (Jayawardene, 8.6 ov), 4-45 (Dilshan, 11.6 ov), 5-73 (Mathews, 24.2 ov), 6-127 (Silva, 35.5 ov), 7-154 (Prasad, 44.6 ov), 8-154 (Sangakkara, 45.1 ov), 9-229 (Herath, 74.1 ov), 10-239 (Welegedara, 78.6 ov)


Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Umar Gul	19	2	78	3	4.10	(4nb)
Junaid Khan	15	2	57	2	3.80	(1nb)
Saeed Ajmal	26	9	45	3	1.73
Abdur Rehman	17	5	40	2	2.35	(1nb)
Mohammad Hafeez	2	0	7	0	3.50


Pakistan 1st innings		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
Mohammad Hafeez	lbw b Prasad	33	112	63	4	0	52.38
Taufeeq Umar	c †Silva b Prasad	27	95	75	3	0	36.00
Azhar Ali	lbw b Dilshan	100	316	242	9	0	41.32
Younis Khan	b Dilshan	55	162	103	2	1	53.39
Misbah-ul-Haq*	c Jayawardene b Welegedara	41	150	113	2	1	36.28
Saeed Ajmal	c Mathews b Welegedara	20	79	51	1	0	39.21
Asad Shafiq	c Jayawardene b Prasad	59	136	101	4	1	58.41
Adnan Akmal†	c †Silva b Dilshan	41	105	80	4	0	51.25
Abdur Rehman	b Herath	0	13	12	0	0	0.00
Umar Gul	lbw b Herath	2	3	3	0	0	66.66
Junaid Khan	not out	0	15	7	0	0	0.00
Extras	(b 10, lb 10, w 2, nb 3)	25

Total	(all out; 141.1 overs; 593 mins)	403	(2.85 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-63 (Taufeeq Umar, 21.1 ov), 2-64 (Mohammad Hafeez, 23.3 ov), 3-181 (Younis Khan, 63.2 ov), 4-275 (Azhar Ali, 97.5 ov), 5-283 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 100.4 ov), 6-324 (Saeed Ajmal, 114.2 ov), 7-394 (Asad Shafiq, 133.1 ov), 8-397 (Abdur Rehman, 136.2 ov), 9-399 (Umar Gul, 136.5 ov), 10-403 (Adnan Akmal, 141.1 ov)


Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
UWMBCA Welegedara	29	7	79	2	2.72	(1w)
KTGD Prasad	32	2	104	3	3.25	(3nb)
HMRKB Herath	37	5	89	2	2.40
RAS Lakmal	24	8	54	0	2.25	(1w)
TM Dilshan	19.1	1	57	3	2.97


Sri Lanka 2nd innings		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
NT Paranavitana	c Younis Khan b Saeed Ajmal	72	328	239	4	0	30.12
HDRL Thirimanne	b Mohammad Hafeez	8	53	45	0	0	17.77
KC Sangakkara	lbw b Abdur Rehman	30	139	99	0	0	30.30
DPMD Jayawardene	b Saeed Ajmal	5	58	34	0	0	14.70
TM Dilshan*	lbw b Junaid Khan	3	5	5	0	0	60.00
AD Mathews	not out	52	200	143	5	1	36.36
JK Silva†	c Saeed Ajmal b Junaid Khan	8	35	20	1	0	40.00
KTGD Prasad	b Abdur Rehman	33	50	48	4	0	68.75
HMRKB Herath	c Misbah-ul-Haq b Saeed Ajmal	15	18	15	2	0	100.00
UWMBCA Welegedara	lbw b Saeed Ajmal	4	2	4	1	0	100.00
RAS Lakmal	b Saeed Ajmal	8	16	9	2	0	88.88
Extras	(b 14, lb 3, nb 2)	19

Total	(all out; 109.5 overs; 452 mins)	257	(2.33 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-22 (Thirimanne, 13.1 ov), 2-95 (Sangakkara, 48.6 ov), 3-113 (Jayawardene, 60.3 ov), 4-116 (Dilshan, 61.3 ov), 5-141 (Paranavitana, 79.1 ov), 6-166 (Silva, 86.6 ov), 7-222 (Prasad, 100.3 ov), 8-243 (Herath, 105.1 ov), 9-247 (Welegedara, 105.5 ov), 10-257 (Lakmal, 109.5 ov)


Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Umar Gul	15	3	39	0	2.60	(1nb)
Junaid Khan	17	4	38	2	2.23	(1nb)
Mohammad Hafeez	14	2	30	1	2.14
Abdur Rehman	33	7	65	2	1.96
Saeed Ajmal	30.5	9	68	5	2.20


Pakistan 2nd innings (target: 94 runs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
Mohammad Hafeez	not out	59	83	64	5	2	92.18
Taufeeq Umar	b Herath	1	14	9	0	0	11.11
Azhar Ali	not out	29	67	72	0	1	40.27
Extras	(b 4, lb 1)	5

Total	(1 wicket; 24.1 overs; 83 mins)	94	(3.88 runs per over)

Did not bat Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal†, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Abdur Rehman

Fall of wickets1-17 (Taufeeq Umar, 4.1 ov)


Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
KTGD Prasad	3	0	23	0	7.66
UWMBCA Welegedara	2	1	1	0	0.50
HMRKB Herath	10.1	2	29	1	2.85
TM Dilshan	9	0	36	0	4.00

Match details

Toss Sri Lanka, who chose to bat
Series Pakistan led the 3-match series 1-0

Test debut JK Silva (Sri Lanka)
Player of the match Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan)

Umpires AL Hill (New Zealand) and SK Tarapore (India)
TV umpire Zameer Haider (Pakistan)
Match referee DC Boon (Australia)
Reserve umpire Shozab Raza (Pakistan)

Close of play
26 Oct day 1 - Pakistan 1st innings 42/0 (Mohammad Hafeez ?*, Taufeeq Umar ?*, 9 ov)
27 Oct day 2 - Pakistan 1st innings 281/4 (Misbah-ul-Haq ?*, Saeed Ajmal ?*, 99 ov)
28 Oct day 3 - Sri Lanka 2nd innings 88/1 (NT Paranavitana ?*, KC Sangakkara ?*, 45 ov)