The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
So, with that, we come to the end of what has been a dominating Test series for Pakistan and a disappointing one for Sri Lanka. The positive brand of cricket from the visitors in all three departments has been great to watch but the way the hosts have been exposed is a worrying sign for Test cricket. There is plenty to do for Dimuth Karunaratne and his side in order to improve as a team. As for Babar Azam and his men, it's only the beginning of what can be a World Test Championship cycle to remember, who knows! This is the pair of Arya and Bidipto taking your leave now. Keep following Sportskeeda and don't forget to join us a little bit later today for the 1st innings of the ODI between India and the West Indies!
Babar Azam (Pakistan captain): (First thoughts) Really happy with the performance! Our camps back home and here have helped us a lot. We have ticked very much all the boxes. We are working hard on our fielding and that is showing too. I thought out fast bowlers bowled exceedingly well. Reverse swing from Naseem Shah today was top notch. (On the batting efforts in this series) Great also to have all the batters playing so well. I would have liked some more runs of course, but, it is a team game and as captain, it feels good to see so many good batting efforts. Saud Shakeel in the first game and then Abdullah Shafique and Agha Salman here. It's not easy playing spin here, but we were able to do that. Playing an aggressive brand of cricket was more because of what was required, rather than a template but it worked. (On what is to look forward to) Going forward, we want to take every series as it comes and keep winning.
Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka captain): (On what went wrong) As a batting unit, we have to stand up. Batting first after winning the toss, 166 was not the score to post. We needed to capitalize on the starts we have. We are getting 30s and 40s and throwing it away. This does not work. (On what needs to be done) We have to sit down and have a good, hard talk about everything. There are lots of things to improve on. We need to rotate strike better, we need to play reverse swing better and a whole lot more. It's tough to play Test matches after a long time, but, that is what it is and we have to play better to get more matches. (On the positives) The only positives I guess are Prabath Jayasuriya and Dhananjaya de Silva.
Salman Ali Agha (Player of the Series): We were 100/5, when I went to bat I said to Saud that we have to build a partnership. We decided to bat positively as we had done in our camps in Lahore and Karachi. We were trying to execute our skills. I don't mind batting at any position. I just want to play for Pakistan, that’s it. I try to back myself and play positive cricket.
Abdullah Shafique (Player of the Match): First of all I would like to thank almighty for winning this series. We haven’t won any previous series so this is a confidence booster. Its pleasing when you have won the series and you are part of it. Good to contribute. Previously I have also batted well here, it has been good for me in Sri Lanka. I contributed in my team’s victory which was more important to me.
Time for the post-match presentation ceremony with Roshan Abeysinghe.
Pakistan win by an innings and 222 runs to take the series 2-0!
Sri Lanka - 166 and 188 || Pakistan - 576/5 dec.
Abdullah Shafique 201 (326) | Noman Ali - 0/10 (3) and 7/70 (23) Dhananjaya de Silva - 57 (68) and 10 (38) | Asitha Fernando - 3/133 (25)
We had more than 80 overs lost on Day 2 due to rain and still, the match got over just after drinks in the 3rd session on Day 4! Pakistan needed to bat only once and not worry about the weather, whatsoever! Sri Lanka, well, they hardly looked like the home team, especially in this Test match.
Sri Lanka started off pretty well with the bat in their second innings, losing only one wicket for 81 runs at lunch today. But after that, everything started falling apart for them with 5 wickets going down in the second session and the remaining 4 in this, the third session.
Apart from Angelo Mathews, who remained unbeaten on 63, no other batter put up much of a fight. A lot was expected of skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and in-form batter Dhananjaya de Silva, but both failed to deliver in this innings. Some of the shots chosen to play were questionable. How those batters could think of playing such shots in a situation of trying to save a Test match is beyond understanding!
Pakistan required only two bowlers to get the job done. Noman Ali returned with 7 wickets to register his best bowling figures and Naseem Shah bowled with pace and hostility, reverse swinging his way to 3 wickets!
Noman picked up the first 7 wickets of this innings and Naseem continued to be unlucky on that front, missing out on numerous opportunities to take one. But, luck finally shone on him when he got three balls on smash the stumps off the good length to polish the Sri Lankan tail.
Pakistan have now got off to the best possible start in this World Test Championship cycle by winning their first two matches. While Sri Lanka have a lot of soul searching to do after such a humiliating series loss at home.
The bottom-line is something to behold for the visitors - Pakistan have now become the first Test team to win 5 series in Sri Lanka! Also, this is their third biggest Test win in terms of margins.
67.4 Naseem Shah to Dilshan Madushanka, WICKET! That's the game for Pakistan. Naseem Shah with another pin point yorker and Madushanka beaten by pace yet again. Right on the base of the stumps and Madushanka had no chance of getting bat to ball on this occasion. What an emphatic victory for Pakistan as they win the series 2-0.
Dilshan Madushanka b Naseem Shah 0 (2b, 0x4, 0x6)
67.3 Naseem Shah to Dilshan Madushanka, again an inswinger tailing back into Madushanka, he somehow manages to get some bat pad on that.
67.2 Naseem Shah to Dilshan Madushanka, LBW shout again but that was comfortably sliding down the leg side. Just gets away with that Madushanka.
Dilshan Madushanka, RHB, is at the crease.
Drinks have been called for.
67.1 Naseem Shah to Asitha Fernando, WICKET! The end is near as another Sri Lankan tail-ender gets beaten by the pace and rattles the stumps. On a good-length seaming back into Fernando, he makes some room and tries to nudge it around the off stump, was beaten by pace, he misses it completely and the stumps have been shattered.
Asitha Fernando b Naseem Shah 0 (2b, 0x4, 0x6)
Now, Pakistan have six balls at Asitha Fernando. They should look to target him with pace on the ball, no matter who bowls. And preferably, target his stumps.
67
overs
188/8score
0
0
0
0
0
4
runs
Angelo Mathews*
63(127)
Asitha Fernando
0(1)
Nauman Ali
7/70
66.6 Noman Ali to Angelo Mathews, FOUR! It was on the cards with the mid-off fielder up in the circle. Noman throws it wide outside off, floater enticing Mathews into a big shot and he accepts gleefully. Chips the tossed up delivery well over the mid-off fielder for a boundary.
66.5 Noman Ali to Angelo Mathews, Mathews rocks back and punches this length delivery around middle straight to the cover fielder.
66.4 Noman Ali to Angelo Mathews, again a slowish tossed up delivery around middle and leg, bit of drift on this occasion and solidly defended by Mathews.
66.3 Noman Ali to Angelo Mathews, again a floater around middle stump, firmly defended off the frontfoot.
Video
;'/></svg>)
B Azam
D de Silva
;'/></svg>){kind=small}
Angelo Mathews
*
Nauman Ali
Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo
