CRICKET
WATCH: Babar Azam takes stunning one-handed catch at slip in 1st Test against Sri Lanka
The first Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan is being played at the Galle International Stadium in Galle. The contest is moving towards an exciting and thrilling end as the Sri Lankan team has set a target of 131 runs to Pakistan. The Men in Green have already lost 3 wickets at the end of the 4th day.
During Sri Lanka’s second innings, Pakistani fielders displayed an outstanding fielding performance which helped them to get rid of the Sri Lankan batters for just 279 runs. Meanwhile, during the 33rd over of Sri Lanka’s 2nd innings, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam produced a breathtaking fielding effort in the slips.
Watch the video here:
Babar Azam with another world class catch, you just cannot keep him out of the game 🔥 #SLvPAK https://t.co/qciI4dWDH1
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) July 19, 2023
It was a good length ball Nauman Ali, that turned a little more than the batter expected, Mathews came forward to defend and this took a thin edge past the keeper. But Babar spread his left hand out and grabbed an outstanding take. Babar has been continuously showing his catching skills in the slips and moving his way to becoming one of the best fielders at the slips.
A brilliant all-round performance by Pakistan
Talking about the match, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first and scored 312 runs in the first innings with the help of Dhananjaya de Silva’s stunning century and a 64-run knock from Mathews. Coming to bat, Pakistan’s top-order couldn’t produce anything special but their middle-order batters steadied the ship.
Especially, Saud Shakeel, who smashed a brilliant double century and helped the team cross the 400-run mark. He was well accompanied by Agha Salman who played a 83-run knock. Ramesh Mendis took a fifer for Sri Lanka while Prabath Jayasuriya also picked up 3 wickets.
Sri Lanka were expected to score big in the 2nd innings but that didn’t happen as they were restricted to the score of 279 runs and set a target of 131 runs for Sri Lanka. It’d be interesting to see if the Men in Green will be able to achieve the target on the 5th day as they are already 48 for 3 and still need 83 runs.