Saqib claims seven on Test debut as rain halts Pakistan-Sri Lanka opener
Saqib Khan took seven wickets on debut for Pakistan against Sri Lanka on Thursday in Rawalpindi during a rain-affected fourth day of the first Test. Play was called off for bad light and rain with Pakistan 57 for 1 after 21.2 overs.
Sri Lanka, who resumed on 404 for 4, were all out for 446, giving them a first-innings lead of 12 runs before Pakistan began their second innings. Saqib finished with figures of 7-130 on debut, and Pakistan led by 45 runs at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium when stumps were drawn at 3:05 p.m. Azan Awais was 22 at the crease after being dropped on 17 by captain Kusal Mendis, while Mohammad Taha, one of Pakistan's four debutants, had 24 not out off 55 balls after a first-innings half-century.
The 31-year-old Saqib exploited overcast conditions and swing to force a Sri Lankan collapse, producing an incisive eight-over spell of 5-25 that removed both centurions early in the morning. He accounted for Dhananjaya de Silva with an outside edge that ended de Silva's overnight 167 and then had captain Kusal Mendis caught by Ghazi Ghori, breaking the 249-run partnership inside the first 15 minutes.
Saqib became only the fourth Pakistani to take seven wickets in an innings on Test debut, joining Mohammad Nazir, Mohammad Zahid and Abrar Ahmed in that list. “My strength is to bowl out-swingers and I did exactly that today under favorable overcast conditions,” Saqib said. “Yesterday was a bad day for us because we couldn't bowl the way we would have liked to, but coach Mike Hesson told us in the dressing room that if we hit the off stump line and bowl out-swingers we will get wickets.”
Fielding lapses and moments of excellence featured in the session: Saud Shakeel, who had earlier dropped de Silva on 38, spilled a low catch off Mendis, but two balls later wicketkeeper Ghazi Ghori took a spectacular diving catch off Saqib to end Mendis on 119. Sonal Dinusha fell for 20 attempting an expansive drive against Saqib, and Milan Rathnayake pulled a boundary off Razaullah to surpass Pakistan's first-innings total of 434-9 declared before Saqib added two more wickets.
Saqib's later dismissals included Asitha Fernando, which was Ghori's sixth catch behind the stumps, and Razaullah then had Rathnayake top-edge a pull to deep fine leg to wrap up Sri Lanka's innings. In Pakistan's reply, debutant Tayyab Arif was the only wicket to fall when he was trapped lbw by Fernando for 11 in the third over, having wasted one of Pakistan's three reviews.
Play ended with Pakistan 57-1, Azan Awais on 22 and Mohammad Taha 24 not out, leaving the hosts a lead of 45 runs; the match will resume with those batsmen at the crease when conditions allow.
