Sports
Pakistan won first match of Galle test series
The national team achieved the target of 131 for 6 wickets.
Galle: Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 4 wickets after successfully chasing down a 131-run target.
Imam-ul-Haq's resilient 50 runs, Saad Shafiq's 30, Babar Azam's 24, Abdullah Shafique's 8, and Shan Masood's 7 contributed to the win, while Sarfaraz Ahmed and Agha Salman were both bowled out at 1 run each.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first, scoring 312 runs in the first innings, led by Dhananjaya de Silva's impressive 122 runs.
In response, Pakistan scored 461 runs in their first innings, with Saad Shafiq's 206 runs being the highest individual score.
During the second innings, Sri Lanka managed to score 279 runs before being bowled out, with Dhananjaya de Silva again standing tall with 82 runs.
Sri Lanka set a target of 131 runs for Pakistan to achieve victory.
Pakistan faced initial challenges and was in a precarious position with three key batsmen out at just 38 runs.
However, Imam-ul-Haq displayed a responsible and composed batting performance, achieving an unbeaten half-century and playing a crucial role in the team's triumph.
Pakistan's brilliant batting and Saad Shafiq's double century earned him the title of the match's best player.
In the bowling department, Shaheen Shah Afridi took 5 wickets, and Abrar Ahmed took 6 wickets, while for Sri Lanka, Prabath Jayasuriya took 7 wickets, and Ramesh Mendis took 6 wickets.
With this victory, Sri Lanka now leads the two-match series 1-0.
The second and final Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will commence on July 24th.