Cricket News: Sri Lanka vs Pakistan 1st Test - Dinesh Chandimal rescues hosts as Shaheen Afridi takes four-wicket haul on Day 1

they brought up great revenge with the ball to dismiss both Pakistan's openers by the stumps of Day 1.

On opting to bat first, Sri Lanka lost their first wicket of skipper Dimuth Karunaratne to Shaheen Shah Afridi. Hosts then got the highest partnership, 49 runs off 72 balls at the second wicket stand between Oshada Fernando and Kusal Mendis. But Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi kept control over batters and took wickets regularly; Dinesh Chandimal and Maheesh Theekshana rescued Sri Lankan batting. They played a counter-attacking inning to drag the team from struggling at 133 with a loss of eight wickets to a respectable total of 222. Dinesh Chandimal's blitzkrieg effort of 76 off 115 came when Sri Lanka was at their lowest and took the challenge to rescue his team with a sharp knock. However, both the set batters lost their wickets to Shaheen Afridi as the bowler returned with figures of 4/58.  

In response, Sri Lanka dislodged the Pakistan openers for a mere 21 runs in the final hour of play. While Prabath Jayasuriya continued his form to get the first breakthrough by setting Abdullah Shafique brilliantly to dismiss him with an arm-ball, Kasun Rajith took Imam-ul-Haq in an LBW. The bowlers didn't give many chances to the batters, and if they continued like this tomorrow, the hosts are likely to dig out more opportunities with the ball turning to take crucial wickets. Pakistan will commence day 2 with Azhar Ali and Babar Azam on the crease and a trail of 198 runs to cover. 

Though it looked that Pakistan would have an edge at the start of the day, it's difficult to say by the end of the Day 1 match is balanced, and Sri Lanka can fight back with the ball to keep the visitors on the backfoot.