Four fifties lift Pakistan after Sri Lanka opt to bowl in Rawalpindi

Four half-centuries, including two on debut, helped Pakistan reach 281-5 on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi. Tayyab Arif, Mohammad Taha, Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel led the home team's batting effort

Rawalpindi: Opening batter Tayyab Arif and Mohammad Taha made impressive debuts as a new-look Pakistan reached 281-5 on the opening day of the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka on Monday.

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

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

Sri Lanka recovered well after Pakistan’s sizzling start of 137-2 in the first session, which lasted 30 overs, and took three wickets as its four pacers bowled 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 attack, playing his trademark cover drives. These included three off Dilshan Madushanka’s first over after lunch as he completed his 35th Test half-century.

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

Taha and Shakeel then dug in with a more traditional Test-match approach against the pace attack and shared a 68-run stand before Sri Lanka picked up two wickets in the final session. Mendis turned to 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 the ball to Dhananjaya de Silva, while Salman Ali Agha, who made 16, was beaten by the extra pace of Asitha Fernando (2-64) and edged the ball to Mendis behind the wickets.

Earlier, the 20-year-old Tayyab struck nine boundaries and a six in his maiden Test half-century to provide Pakistan with 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 making their Test debuts — carried the home team to the interval without further damage.

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 into Test cricket after an impressive domestic season and showed plenty of maturity. He displayed 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 and 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 the batter tried to play away from his body, giving Mendis a regulation catch.

Pakistan also handed debuts to Arafat Minhas, a spinning all-rounder and standout player of the recent triangular ODI series, and fast bowler Saqib Khan as the home team looks to strengthen its pool of cricketers for the next World Test Championship cycle.

Last-placed Pakistan has won only two of its nine matches in this WTC cycle, which included a 3-0 defeat in England in its last series and a 2-0 drubbing at the hands of Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka is ranked No. 7 in the WTC standings, having won just one of its six Test matches, drawn three and lost 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 the ODI tri-series to Pakistan.