Shahrukh Khan
Age: 124
Total Posts: 43596
Points: 0
Location:
Netherlands, Netherlands
Jayawardene and Samaraweera hammer Pakistan
The Bulletin by Sriram Veera
February 21, 2009
Sri Lanka 406 for 3 (Jayawardene 136*, Samaraweera 130*, Sangakkara 70, Warnapura 59) v Pakistan
On a warm day in Karachi, when Test cricket returned to Pakistan after 16 months, the Sri Lankan top order indulged themselves to reach a strong position by the end of the opening day. Mahela Jayawardene presented a visual treat, Thilan Samaraweera and Kumar Sangakkara accumulated steadily, and Malinda Warnapura thrilled with a breezy knock as the visitors cashed in after winning the toss on a perfect batting pitch.
There is something extremely graceful about Jayawardene's batting. Perhaps, it's the economy of movement, his ease, and the languid flow of his bat's movement that catches the eye. There was a delicious straight drive on the up off Umar Gul today that captured his innings in a nutshell. The ball landed short of a length outside the off stump. Sachin Tendulkar, or even Sangakkara, imparts velocity to such deliveries with a fierce thump at the point of impact, whereas Virender Sehwag would rely on tremendous bat speed. Jayawardene seems to just caress his shots. Today, he waved his bat forward to meet the ball with the middle and it sped away. And he did it repeadtedly through his innings to compile his first Test hundred against Pakistan, the only country missing from his list of centuries.
Jayawardene was reprieved on 43 and 123 off the debutant Sohail Khan. On both occasions he played away from his body but Misbah-ul-Haq, who held three sharp catches including a diving effort to dismiss Warnapura, spilled the first and Shoaib Malik dropped the second. Those two errors apart, Jayawardene was compact in defence. He might have struggled in recent ODIs but he has revelled in Tests, averaging over 55 in the last 12 months.
Jayawardene's innings built on the platform laid by Sangakkara, who played an assured innings after coming in to face the fifth ball of the day after the debutant Tharanga Paranavitana was out for a first-ball duck. Sangakkara utilised every run-scoring opportunity, playing an upper cut against Sohail Khan, a punchy drive on one knee off Yasir Arafat, and a straight drive against Gul. He even lofted Danish Kaneria over the infield but holed out to midwicket while trying to repeat the shot.
Sangakkara's wicket was a vital moment for Kaneria. He began to test the batsmen - Thilan Samaraweera in particular - with series of legbreaks, occasional googlies, and the odd slider delivered from the front of the hand. Samaraweera, however, was up to the task and grew in confidence, producing a whippy on-drive against Kaneria and another drive through cover off Arafat. As Samaraweera grew in composure, Kaneria started losing his and began to deliver a boundary ball every over.
Kaneria changed tack in the last session, going round the stumps in an effort to frustrate the batsmen. It nearly worked as Samaraweera skied a slog-sweep and then edged between the wicketkeeper and a wide first slip. Samaraweera, nicknamed Mr Glue for a Test strike-rate of 43.96, put those lapses past him and began playing straight again. The pitch and the match situation demanded he raise his game and he did so, allowing Jayawardene to drop anchor. He reached his hundred with a lofted stroke over mid-off against Shoaib Malik.
Among the Pakistan seamers, Arafat stood out for his consistently tight line and length. He repeatedly got the new ball to cut in and also to hold its line and combination almost worked. In the first session, he hit Sangakkara's back leg with a delivery that cut from leg stump towards off but the appeal was turned down by the umpire. Sangakkara, on 43 then, was lucky to get away. Arafat also found reverse-swing with the older ball, though his lack of pace made it hard to breach the batsman's defences.
Gul and Sohail were guilty of erring in length. They overused the tactic of peppering Warnapura with bouncers initially and then tried to compensate by pitching too full. Warnapura took advantage, and kept driving them to set up Sri Lanka's innings.
Despite the run-fest, Younis Khan set attacking fields through the day, conceding plenty of runs in the vacant third-man region. The two slips for Danish Kaneria seemed a luxury at times but you could sense he wanted to be aggressive on the first day of his captaincy. He perhaps took the conventional means of attack to an extreme and the ploy failed to work.
Shahrukh Khan
Age: 124
7652 days old here
Total Posts: 43596
Points: 0
Location:
Netherlands, Netherlands
Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Karachi, 2nd day
Sri Lanka on top after amassing 644
The Bulletin by Sriram Veera
February 22, 2009
Pakistan 44 for 1 trail Sri Lanka 644 for 7 (Jayawardene 240, Samaraweera 231) by 600 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Thilan Samaweera notched up his maiden Test double-century in Karachi © AFP
Mahela Jayawardene struck his first double-century outside Sri Lanka - his fifth overall - while Thilan Samaraweera went past 200 for the first time in Tests to bat Pakistan out of the game on the second day in Karachi. They feasted on an insipid bowling attack, rendered helpless by the flat pitch, and posted 437 runs - a Test record - for the fourth wicket. Sri Lanka eventually declared on 644 for 7 but Pakistan's batsmen may not have it as easy as the visitors did after Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed Salman Butt shortly before stumps.
Whatever the intention behind this Karachi pitch, despite Younis Khan's plea for a good wicket, only one team can realistically win from here. And it's not the hosts. There was a banner in the crowd with a cruel message for the new captain - 'Younis, we want results, not just smiles'.
The boy who held up that message was given plenty of time to think and scribble it down by Jayawardene and Samaraweera. They batted as if on autopilot, knowing they were not going to be surprised on a placid pitch, and did not try anything extravagant to impose themselves on Pakistan. Jayawardene was as pleasing and steady as he was on the first day, playing his signature shots - the off drive, the square cut, and the flick. Samaraweera had said last evening he wanted to raise his Test strike-rate and he achieved that without having to try too hard.
They were cautious in the morning against some disciplined bowling from Yasir Arafat and Umar Gul, and scored only 18 in the first ten overs. The third-man region, where over 100 runs were scored on the first day, was plugged but the batsmen managed to find other areas and took 51 off the next ten overs. And settling in, the two batted on and on.
Top Curve
Smart Stats
* Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera's partnership of 437 is the highest for the fourth wicketin Tests.
* In 27 innings, Jayawardene and Samaraweera have averaged 68.8 together - the highest for stands above a total of 1000 runs involving the Sri Lankan captain.
* Jayawardene scored his fifth double-century, and his first outside Sri Lanka.
* There were no sixes in the Sri Lankan innings. It's the eleventh time a team has scored 600 or above in an innings without hitting a six.
* Sohail Khan conceded 131 runs in 21 overs. His figures are the fourth-worst in terms of runs conceded for debutants who've gone wicketless in an innings.
* In their epic stand, Jayawardene and Samaraweera scored 110 runs behind the point region - 60 of them in boundaries. Most of these runs came on the first day, as Pakistan did not keep a third man.
Bottom Curve
Their partnership spanned 108.3 overs and they dominated a Pakistan attack lacking in swing, pace and high-quality spin, until fatigue began to take its toll. Jayawardene achieved the partnership record by top-edging a sweep and, a few balls later, Samaraweera was beaten by Danish Kaneria's googly. Until then, their stand had been an outstanding exhibition of patience and maturity. After they fell in quick succession with the score on 614, Shoaib Malik dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan for a duck, and Jayawardene declared shortly after.
Pakistan's best bowler, Arafat, was steady but hardly dangerous. Sohail Khan was anything but steady, and while Gul's performance was just about satisfactory, Kaneria's was a mixed bag of good and poor deliveries. Malik's plan was to curve deliveries towards slip from round the wicket but the ploy failed. Jayawardene even reverse-swept him for four and, once Malik switched over the stumps, he was harmless. Even Salman Butt bowled and Samaraweera helped himself to a couple of boundaries.
Sri Lanka's bowlers, on the other hand, appeared spicier on the same pitch. Chaminda Vaas teased Pakistan's openers with his accurate swing, Dilhara Fernando hustled them with pace, and Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis got the ball to turn. Butt, who was hit on the body and survived a close shout for a caught behind against Fernando, was dropped off Ajantha Mendis' first ball. Unlike Jayawardene, he failed to make use of his reprieve and fell soon after, edging an offbreak from Murali to the Sri Lankan captain at first slip. Khurram Manzoor, who looked in more strife than Butt, repeatedly lunged forward to the spinners, trying desperately to get the bat in front of his pad. He was unconvincing but survived until stumps.
The pitch remained excellent for batting but the sheer weight of Sri Lanka's total will put Pakistan under immense pressure. In July last year, Sri Lanka amassed 600 at the SSC before skittling India out for 223 and 138. Pakistan will have to dig deep to prevent a similar result.
Shahrukh Khan
Age: 124
7652 days old here
Total Posts: 43596
Points: 0
Location:
Netherlands, Netherlands
Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Karachi, 4th day
Draw looms after Younis triple-century
The Bulletin by Sriram Veera
February 24, 2009
Pakistan 574 for 5 (Younis 306*, Faisal 57) trail Sri Lanka 644 by 70 runs
Younis Khan rejoices after completing his double-hundred, Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Karachi, 4th day, February 24, 2009
Younis Khan celebrates his triple-century, Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Karachi, 4th day, February 24, 2009
