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31-Dec-2013 13:38:00 GMT
Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi

Bowlers Makes it Pakistan Opening Day

Abu Dhabi: Pacemen Junaid Khan grabbed five and Bilawal Bhatti took three wickets as Pakistan caught Sri Lanka napping at 204 on the opening day of the first Test in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Saeed Ajmal (2-32) also well support in bowler's opening day.

Pakistan moved to 46/1 at stumps on Day 1 of the first Test.

Junaid registered his fourth five-wicket haul -- all coming against the same opponents - as Sri Lanka lost seven wickets in the space of 101 runs after being sent into bat on a greenish Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch.

Skipper Angelo Mathews (91) helped Sri Lanka's fighting scores and he added 61 runs for ninth wicket with Shaminda Erange (14). Mathews was last man out of Sri Lanka, Adnan Akmal stump on Saeed Ajmal.

Misbah-ul Haq's decision of fielding first had looked unwise as Sri Lankan openers Dimuth Karunaratne (38) and Kaushal Silva (20) gave their team a sound start of 57 but from 66-1 at lunch, Junaid and Bhatti changed the script in the second session.

Bhatti, making his Test debut along with opener Ahmed Shehzad, took three wickets off just eight balls after lunch.

Bhatti had Silav caught in the slip off the fourth ball after resumption and then had the experienced Mahela Jayawardene (five) caught behind in his next over. A ball earlier Jayawardene was caught behind only to see the umpire call it a no-ball.

Two balls later Bhatti had Dinesh Chandimal caught in the slip by Mohammad Hafeez for a duck to leave Sri Lanka struggling at 76-4.

It was left to Jnuaid to do the rest. The left-armer dismissed Sri Lanka's most reliable batsman Kumar Sangakkara caught off an uppish drive at point for 16, had both Prasanna Jayawardene (five) and Sachitra Senanayake (five) both caught behind.

He then bowled Rangana Herath (nought) bowled to complete five wicket haul.

Mathews reached his 12th fifty with a single, having so far hit nine boundaries in his knock.

It was a different story in the first session. Karunaratne hit three boundaries in the first three overs, and five in all, before he miscued a drive off Junaid and was smartly snapped up at gully by Asad Shafiq.

Pakistan strove hard for wickets in the first hour but wasted one review when they appealed for a caught behind against Silva off Junaid. Replays showed the batsman had not touched the ball.

Earlier, Pakistan have won the toss and put Sri Lanka into bat.

Ahmed Shehzad debut to Pakistan as a reward for his excellent performances throughout the recently concluded ODI series. Some more team changes to report as, along with Shehzad, Bilawal Bhatti is also to debut today. Mohammad Hafeez, who really couldn't be dropped after the stellar performances in the ODIs, has been selected in place of Azhar Ali.

Sachithra Senanayake also makes his debut.

Teams

Pakistan:
Khurram Manzoor, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (Capt.), Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal (wk), Bilawal Bhatti, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews (Capt.), Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Sachithra Senanayake, Rangana Herath, Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal

Brief scores
Sri Lanka
204 (Mathews 91, Junaid Khan 5-58), Bilawal Bhatti 3-65)
Pakistan 46 for 1
Status Pakistan trail by 158 runs


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