Sri Lanka complete massive victory

Sri Lankan players celebrate their 209-run first Test win over
Pakistan in Galle

NUWAN Kulasekara and Suraj Randiv combined to vanquish Pakistan as Sri Lanka won the first Test by a massive 209 runs in Galle.

The tourists, set an enormous victory target of 510, were bowled out for 300 just before stumps on the fourth day despite defiant batting from Younis Khan (87) and Asad Shafiq (80). It was Sri Lnaka’s biggest win over their Asian rivals.

The pair kept the Sri Lankan attack at bay for three hours to add 151 for the fifth wicket before both fell on either side of the tea interval.

Spinners Randiv (3-86) and Rangana Herath (2-91) and seamer Kulasekara (3-48) grabbed the bulk of the wickets to ensure Sri Lanka ended the match with a day to spare after Pakistan appeared to be taking the fight into the final day.

Randiv finished with seven wickets for the game, but it was teammate Kumar Sangakkara who was named man of the match for his unbeaten 199 in Sri Lanka's first innings.


“It's nice to continue the winning momentum,” said Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, whose team won the preceding one-dayers 3-1 and now leads 1-0 in the three-Test series.

Jayawardene defended his decision not to enforce the follow-on despite a lead of 372 runs after Sri Lanka shot out Pakistan for a modest 100 in the first innings.

“The idea was to bat Pakistan out of the match and also give my bowlers a bit of a rest,” he said.

“The weather was a bit of a concern but then Kulasekara was outstanding with the new ball. Younis and Shafiq batted really well, but we knew that once we broke the stand, we will go through.”