2nd Test: Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva script 9-wicket win for Sri Lanka over Pakistan
Karunaratne remained unbeaten on 62 while Silva fell for 58 as Sri Lanka reached 137-1 for its biggest win by wickets among 45 Tests played between the two nations.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: January 12, 2014 05:00 PM IST
Opening batsmen Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva hit half centuries Sunday and drove Sri Lanka to an emphatic 9-wicket victory over Pakistan in the second Test to go 1-0 up in the series.
Karunaratne remained unbeaten on 62 while Silva fell for 58 as Sri Lanka reached 137-1 for its biggest win by wickets among 45 Tests played between the two nations.
Resuming at 330-7, fast bowler Suranga Lakmal dashed Pakistan's hopes of putting up a fight with a career-best 4-78 before Pakistan was bowled out for 359 in an hour on the last day - an overall lead of 136 runs.
Kumar Sangakkara (9) brought the victory runs when he pulled Saeed Ajmal to midwicket boundary and then ran the winning run to finish the match at tea on the last day.
Karunaratne and Silva played out cautiously and steadily progressed to 35-0 by lunch before they cut lose after the break.
Without injured fast bowler Bilawal Bhatti, who was nursing a hamstring injury and couldn't bowl in the second innings, Pakistan struggled to get the breakthrough and both batsmen scored freely.
Pakistan came close to separating the two openers but Asad Shafiq couldn't hold on to Silva's uppish drive off luckless Ajmal when the batsman was on 24.
Ajmal finally got the consolation wicket when he had Silva leg before wicket with Sri Lanka needing only 13 runs for victory.
Silva, who missed his maiden test century in the first innings when he made 95, added 124 runs for the opening stand and hit five fours in his 134-ball knock. Karunaratne hit eight boundaries and faced 125 balls in his unbeaten innings.
Pakistan's tail resisted for an hour and added 29 to its overnight 330-7 before it was bowled out.
Lakmal claimed all three wickets and wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene equaled the Sri Lanka record of nine catches in a test match when he had Rahat Ali caught behind.
Sarfraz Ahmed, 70 overnight, tried to farm the strike but could add only four to his overnight score before Lakmal bowled him in the fourth over of the day off a delivery that swung in and went between the bat and pad.
Ahmed batted for 3-1/2 hours, hitting seven fours in his 142-ball maiden test fifty.
Jayawardene equalled Amal Silva's 1985 record of nine catches against India when he gathered a Ali edge. Silva achieved the feat twice in the same series.
Lakmal wrapped up the innings by clean bowling Junaid Khan with Ajmal remaining unbeaten on 21.
The first Test ended in a draw at Abu Dhabi and the third will be played in Sharjah from January 16.