Pakistan reached 151 for 5 at lunch on the fifth and final day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, leading by 139 runs with five wickets in hand.
Resuming on 57 for 1, Pakistan lost four wickets in the morning session. Babar Azam made 34, Mohammad Taha scored 24 and Salman Agha fell for 13. Saud Shakeel was unbeaten on 23 at the break, with Ghazi Ghori on 7. Play was held up for 20 minutes by bad light, and lunch was extended to one hour for Friday prayers, with play to resume at 1:30pm.
Sri Lanka had taken a 12-run first-innings lead after making 446 in reply to Pakistan’s 434 for 9 declared. Dhananjaya de Silva scored 167 and Kusal Mendis 119, while debutant Saqib Khan took 7 for 130 for Pakistan. With bad light and rain already costing more than 100 overs in the match, a draw is the most likely result.
In other cricket today, England were bowled out for 131 in the first one-day international against Australia in Perth. Debutant Mahli Beardman took 6 for 24 — the best figures by an Australian on ODI debut — while Spencer Johnson took 3 for 42. Australia were 95 for 3 in reply.
