Pakistan 27 for 0 (Hafeez 17*, Taufeeq 8*) trail Sri Lanka 197 (Mathews 52*, Paranavitana 37, Junaid 5-38, Gul 2-37) by 170 runs
"Sri Lanka"squandered away what seemed to be an inviting proposition in the morning - being put in to bat on a flat wicket under the hot sun against inexperienced bowlers - by refusing to score, and ultimately succumbed against a relentless Pakistan attack. Angelo Mathews, however, batted intelligently with the lower order, as he had done during the recent series against Australia, to lift Sri Lanka from the lows of 114 for 7 before Junaid Khan's maiden Test five-for kept them to a first-innings tally of 197.
Pakistan's bowlers were nearly sold short at the toss by their captain who thought that any chance of taking wickets lay in utilising the scant moisture on a flat and deceptively green-tinged pitch. With a large heart and perseverance, though, they prised out six wickets in the second session after Lahiru Thirimanne's guide to slip off Saeed Ajmal gave them an opening at the stroke of lunch.
Aizaz Cheema epitomised Pakistan's hunger with a relentless spell, either side of the break, that claimed Kumar Sangakkara cheaply and troubled Mahela Jayawardene with consistent pace and zip off the placid surface. Jayawardene managed to survive Cheema's spell but soon joined Tillakaratne Dilshan in the dressing room. Dilshan had earlier briefly breathed life into the doddering innings, before being wrongly adjudged caught-behind by umpire Tony Hill, as Sri Lanka slipped to 112 for 4.
Jayawardene went in the next over, prodding at Junaid outside off stump and edging to slip. Junaid capitalised on the panic in the line-up to claim Prasanna Jayawardene and Rangana Herath with searing full deliveries to reduce Sri Lanka to 114 for 4, but the fight had gone out of the Sri Lanka innings some time ago.
Cheema, 32, displayed the tireless zeal of a player made to wait almost ten years for his Test debut. He even hit Jayawardene on the helmet grill when the batsman failed to get out of the way of a short one. Cheema's aggression was in contrast to the way Thirimanne and Tharanga Paranavitana added 26 runs in the first hour, treating the benign Sheikh Zayed Stadium surface with the extreme respect that an overcast Headingley morning would deserve.
Though the three Pakistan fast bowlers, Gul, Cheema and Junaid - chosen ahead of the quicker and more experienced Wahab Riaz - ran in with heart, they were rendered ineffective in the first session by the lifeless pitch.
The openers' approach, however, bordered on the extreme of being over-cautious. The first boundary came in the 14th over from Paranavitana off the part-time offspin of Mohammad Hafeez. Having played sedately all morning, Thirimanne guided Ajmal straight to slip in the penultimate over before lunch. Sri Lanka had managed only 50 runs in the session.
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