The excitement behind the return of Test cricket to Pakistan after a decade has fizzled out after just 86.3 overs were possible in two days. At stumps on Day Two, Sri Lanka reached 263 for 6, after resuming the day on 202 for 5. Niroshan Dickwella (33) was the only wicket to fall on the second day, after he put on a 67-run stand with Dhananjaya de Silva for the sixth wicket. Sri Lanka, resuming at 202-5, had progressed to 222-5 in 7.5 overs when heavy rain in the morning forced the teams to have an early lunch.

Play was stopped for two hours and 43 minutes but when it resumed only 10 overs were possible with Sri Lanka losing Dickwella for 33 before bad light accompanied by rain forced an early call-off at 3:30 pm local time.

Dhananjaya also put on 62 for the fifth wicket with Angelo Mathews on Day One, after the visitors lost three quick wickets, which has now given Sri Lanka’s total some respectability. 

Dhananjaya looked in control throughout his knock of 72 not out, in which he had a false shot percentage of 20.6% out of the 131 deliveries he faced. He left the ball alone well and defended beautifully, but the second new ball did find the outside edge on a couple of occasions, but luckily for him, it did not go to the waiting slip cordon. 

Shaheen Afridi was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers. He induced the most false shots (27.3%) and created a lot of pressure with many dot balls. If the weather permits, he will once again be key in ensuring that Sri Lanka are bowled out at the earliest.

However, the weather does not seem to be too encouraging as there is rain predicted throughout the day in Rawalpindi on the next two days (Friday and Saturday). 

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka: 263 for 6 (Dhananjaya de Silva 72*, Dimuth Karunaratne 59; Shaheen Afridi 2 for 47, Naseem Shah 2 for 75) vs Pakistan

(With inputs from AFP)