Pak vs SL
\nMohammad Nawaz claims maiden five-wicket haul, Yasir Shah takes three, but efforts go in vain
\n GALLE
\nSri Lanka\u2019s red-hot Dinesh Chandimal smashed his second successive half-ton to take his team\u2019s lead past 300 and foiled the Babar Azam-led Pakistan\u2019s attack on day three of the first Test on Monday. The hosts were 329 for nine when bad light stopped play for the day in Galle.
\nChandimal, on 86, and Prabath Jayasuriya, on four, were batting at the close of play with Sri Lanka leading by 333 in their second innings.
\nMohammad Nawaz claimed his maiden five-wicket haul and combined with fellow spinner Yasir Shah, who took three, to rattle the opposition middle-order in the second session.
\nBut Chandimal, who struck blazing form with his maiden double century \u2014 206 not out \u2014 in his team\u2019s series-levelling Test win over Australia last week, stood firm in another lower-order show of defiance after the hosts slipped to 235-7.
\nHe reached his fifty and put on 41 runs with Maheesh Theekshana for the ninth wicket in a repeat performance from the hosts, who had hit back from 133-8 to post 222 in their first innings.
\nEarlier, Kusal Mendis made 76 and opener Oshada Fernando scored 64 and put on a key third-wicket stand of 91 to fight back after an early wicket in the morning session.
\nOshada reached his sixth Test fifty in the first session but fell to Yasir on the second ball after lunch.
\nKusal raised his fifty and took on the opposition attack with a few boundaries before Yasir bowled him with an unplayable delivery that pitched outside leg and turned to hit the top of off stump.
\nNawaz, who is making a Test comeback after nearly six years and playing his fourth five-day match, kept chipping away and got key wickets including Angelo Mathews and Niroshan Dickwella.
\nHe got nightwatchman Kasun Rajitha on the third ball of the day to set things rolling for Pakistan, but the Sri Lankan batsmen kept coming back on a pitch that is expected to offer more turn to the spinners come day four.
\nIn a keenly contested match of tail-end fights, Pakistan had also hit back to post 218, riding on skipper Babar Azam\u2019s 119 as he batted with his own lower order on day two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pak vs SL Mohammad Nawaz claims maiden five-wicket haul, Yasir Shah takes three, but efforts go in vain GALLE Sri Lanka\u2019s red-hot Dinesh Chandimal smashed his second successive half-ton to take his team\u2019s lead past 300 and foiled the Babar Azam-led Pakistan\u2019s attack on day three of the first Test on Monday. The hosts were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-272123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n