Four half centuries carry new-look Pakistan to 281-5 against Sri Lanka in 1st test

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — Opening batter Tayyab Arif and Mohammad Taha made impressive debuts as new-look Pakistan drove to 281-5 on the opening day of the first cricket test against Sri Lanka on Monday.

Arif made an aggressive 57 off 51 balls and Taha showed lot of grit at No. 3 to score 51 off 105 deliveries on a greenish wicket that lured Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis to bowl first after winning the toss.

Captain Babar Azam’s flamboyant 50 off 58 balls that featured seven fours and Saud Shakeel’s unbeaten 57 also gave Pakistan early advantage before bad light stopped play with only 67.2 overs possible on the first day of two-test series.

Sri Lanka recovered well after Pakistan’s sizzling start of 137-2 in the 30-over first session and took three wickets as the four pacers bowled to more disciplined lines after being dominated by Arif’s early aggression.

Babar, who hasn’t scored a test hundred since December 2022, looked at ease against the pace by playing his trademark cover drives, that included three off Dilshan Madushanka’s first over after lunch as he completed his 35th test half century.

However, Babar was undone by left-arm seamer in his next over when he gave Mendis his one of the four catches of the day that stretched Babar's century drought to 41 test innings.

Taha and Shakeel then dug in for a more test-match mold against the pace and shared 68-run stand before Sri Lanka picked up two wickets in the final session. Mendis switched to his part-time spinner Sonal Dinusha to break the stand after Sri Lanka opted to go without frontline spinner Prabath Jayasuriya.

Taha tried to slog sweep Dinusha but top-edged to Dhananjaya de Silva and Salman Ali Agha, who made 16, was beaten by the extra pace of Asitha Fernando (2-64) and edged to Mendis behind the wickets.

Earlier, the 20-year-old Tayyab struck nine boundaries and a six in his maiden test fifty and provided Pakistan a blazing start.

Sri Lanka struck back briefly by removing both Tayyab and his opening partner Azan Awais (30) in successive overs before Babar and Taha — among the four Pakistan players on test debut — carried the home team to the interval without further damage in the first session.

Taha had a lucky escape when he survived a close lbw review against Milan Rathnayake, who bowled 16 overs in three spells and finished the day with economical figures of 1-43.

Tayyab was fast-tracked to test cricket after an impressive domestic season and showed plenty of maturity. He showed signs of early aggression by pulling Fernando for a six over fine leg and also played some exquisite cover drives as Pakistan raced to 86-0 in 16 overs.

Tayyab completed his half-century off 46 balls with back-to-back boundaries against Lahiru Kumara (0-70). Rathnayake pulled back the scoring rate by bowling steadily as he struck in his third over when Mendis grabbed a stunning two-handed catch behind the wickets off Awais’ thick inside edge.

Fernando struck from the other end when he found the outside edge of Tayyab’s bat as he tried to play away from the body and gave Mendis a regulation catch.

Pakistan also awarded debuts to Arafat Minhas, a spinning allrounder and standout player of the recent triangular ODI series and fast bowler Saqib Khan as the home team look to beef up its pool of cricketers for the next World Test Championship cycle.

Last-place Pakistan has won only two of the nine matches in this WTC cycle that included its chaotic 3-0 loss in England in the last series and a 2-0 drubbing at the hands of Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka is ranked No. 7 in the WTC standings, winning just one of its six test matches while drawing three and losing two.

Sri Lanka has a recent happy memory at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium where it achieved the second-highest successful run chase in ODI history — 430 against England in the tri-series last month.

Sri Lanka has been in Pakistan for more than a month, losing the T20 series 2-1 and the final of ODI tri-series to Pakistan.

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