Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis anchored a massive unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 249 to bring Sri Lanka to 404-4 on Wednesday, the third day of the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. The pair frustrated the home side, leaving Sri Lanka just 30 runs short of Pakistan's declared total of 434-9.
De Silva remained unbeaten on 167, having struck 20 boundaries in his 241-ball innings. He was noted as being lucky to be dropped on 38 by Saud Shakeel off pacer Razaullah. De Silva completed his 14th Test hundred, his fourth against Pakistan and second at this venue, by hitting a boundary off spinner Arafat Minhas.
Mendis finished the day 117 not out, marking his 11th century. He became the first Sri Lankan to score a century in his maiden Test as captain, having taken over the leadership from De Silva before the series began. Mendis was more aggressive than his partner, hitting four sixes and 10 boundaries. He reached his milestone with a ramp boundary off Razaullah.
The partnership between the two set a new record for Sri Lanka against Pakistan, surpassing the 207-run stand shared by Thilan Samaraweera and Tillakaratne Dilshan in Lahore in 2009.
During the day, Sri Lanka added 290 runs before bad light ended play 15 minutes early. In the first session, Sri Lanka lost only one wicket as De Silva and Kamindu Mendis put on 90 for the fourth wicket. Kamindu Mendis scored 58 off 131 balls, including eight fours, before being edged by Mohammad Abbas to wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori to leave the score at 155-4.
Pakistan’s bowlers struggled on the day, with Mohammad Abbas finishing with figures of 2-64 and debutant Saqib Khan recording 2-105.
Pakistan declared their first innings at 434-9 on Tuesday, having built on an overnight score of 281-5. Saud Shakeel led the scoring with 93, while debutants Tayyab Arif, Mohammad Taha, and Arafat Minhas all contributed half-centuries.
Sri Lanka began their reply trailing by 320 runs, ending the second day at 114-3. At that stage, Abbas and Saqib Khan had taken early wickets before De Silva and Kamindu Mendis steadied the innings with an unbeaten 49-run partnership.
The second Test is scheduled to begin in Rawalpindi on November 17, following a move from Lahore due to poor weather.
