Pakistan recorded an easy four-wicket win on Day 5 to clinch a first Test match against Sri Lanka at Galle International Stadium on Thursday, July 20. This was the first Test win for Babar Azam-led side in 365 days and it came against the same opponent at the same venue.
While chasing 83 runs on the last day, Pakistan lost skipper Babar Azam and two more wickets but they managed to chase the target in the first session. Imam-ul-Haq remained unbeaten and top-scored with 50* off 84 while Babar scored 24 off 28.
First innings' hero Saud Shakeel scored 30 runs and Agha Salman finished the game by smashing a six while facing his first delivery in the 33rd over. Prabhat Jayasuriya picked Babar and Sarfaraz Ahmed's valuable wickets and finished the innings with four wickets. Ramesh Mendis picked one wicket but Pakistan survived while chasing a low target.
With a win, Pakistan ended their winless streak in red-ball cricket stretching for 365 days. Their last win against Sri Lanka came on July 20, 2022, in Galle, their only Test win last year.
Pakistan also started their ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 campaign with a win and took second place in the standings with 12 points. But India lead the table with the same points due to their dominant win over West Indies in the first Test by an innings and 141 runs.
Saud Shakeel, who registered 208* and 30 scores, won the Player of the Match award. He is enjoying a sensational start to his red-ball career with 818 runs in six matches at an average of 90.88.
"I was just trying to build partnerships, be positive and look for runs. We are skilled in how to play the sweep and reverse sweep shots, and we knew we needed to execute it well. I'm from Karachi and I'm used to playing a lot of spins there," Saud Shakeel said after the match.
