Babar scores half-century as Pakistan punish Sri Lanka on opening day of first Test

Captain Babar Azam, 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 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.

“There were 63 balls that beat the bat today,” said Sri Lanka bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk. “Sometimes, when you look at the bigger picture Pakistan probably slightly ahead on day one, but we’re also probably short of a little bit of luck throughout the day.”

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.

Sri Lankan players celebrate the wicket of Pakistan's Babar Azam during the first day of the first Test cricket match. AP

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.

“It was tough to contain the run rate once the first session had gone by,” van Niekerk said. “But I thought the group of bowlers did a good job to pull it back towards the end of the day.”

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.

“My only regret is that I should have batted longer after getting well set,” said 26-year-old Taha. “Babar and coach Mike Hesson motivated me a lot. Obviously, there was pressure and some nervousness early on, but luckily, I batted with Babar bhai (brother) and he helped me a lot.”

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.

Agencies