da leao： Peshawar, March 6: Speed merchant Shoaib Akhtar bowled with fire,hostility and venom to place Pakistan in a position of strengthagainst Sri Lanka at stumps on the second day of the second cricketTest at the Arbab Niaz Stadium here on Monday
Samiul Hasan07-Mar-2000Peshawar, March 6: Speed merchant Shoaib Akhtar bowled with fire,hostility and venom to place Pakistan in a position of strengthagainst Sri Lanka at stumps on the second day of the second cricketTest at the Arbab Niaz Stadium here on Monday.The 25-year-old from Rawalpindi fired on all cylinders after WaqarYounis was ruled out of action because of a back problem. He finishedwith impressive figures of five for 75 on a track which had nothingmuch for the fast bowlers.Shoaib’s superlative performance saw Sri Lanka being bowled out for268 after having taken lunch at 179 for three. Pakistan consolidatedtheir position by reaching 67 for the loss of one wicket when stumpswere drawn for the day.Pakistan captain Saeed Anwar survived a very confident caught behindappeal off Muttiah Muralitharan to remain unbeaten on 37. His inningsis spiced with seven excellent boundaries. With him was YousufYouhana who was promoted to the No 3 slot to allow Aamir Sohail revertback to his original opening spot.Aamir, who was looking good, fell victim to the part-time off-spin ofMahela Jayawardena after scoring 22 off 62 balls.ShoaibAkhtar, who took his second five-wicket haul in 14 Tests,ripped the heart out of the Sri Lanka middle-order by claiming threewickets in a fiery third spell of 6-0-23-3.Sri Lankan top scorer Marvan Atapattu was also amongst Shoaib’svictims when the 30-year-old from Kalutara failed to keep ashort-pitched delivery away from the stumps and dragged it on afterscoring a cautious 75.The express fast bowler also accounted for Romesh Kaluwitharana,brilliantly caught by debutant wicket-keeper Atiq-uz-Zaman down theleg side, Pramodya Wickremasinghe, who fell for his third successiveduck in the series, and Muttiah Muralitharan.But Muralitharan celebrated his 50th Test in style by smashing threeboundaries and a pulled six off Abdur Razzaq in his enterprising13-ball 22 as Sri Lanka garnered an invaluable 45 runs for the lasttwo wickets.Interestingly, four out of five Shoaib’s victims found their stumpscastled which speaks volumes of the fast bowler’s controlled accuracyalong with some real quick stuff.It was chiefly because of Shoaib Akhtar’s brilliant performance thatPakistan came back strongly in the Test by claiming the last seven SriLankan wickets for 82 runs after the tourists had resumed this morningat 88 for two.The Pakistan captain, anticipating moisture in the wicket and deceivedby green patches on the centre of the pitch, had decided to field onSunday evening after the match had started four hours late because ofovernight rain. However, the wicket turned out to be batsmen’sfriendly.Shoaib was also playing his first match after recovering from a groininjury which had sidelined him from the Lahore one-dayer andRawalpindi Test which Sri Lanka won by two wickets to go 1-0 up in thethree-Test rubber. But barring a foot nail problem on Monday, heappeared fully recovered and is in top physical shape.Atapattu, who had two poor innings in the Rawalpindi Test after afantastic one-day series, was a model of concentration andapplication. He occupied the crease for 348 minutes. He faced 254balls and converted seven of them into sweetly-timed boundaries.He showed excellent footwork and played the ball on its merit. Heconcentrated more in nudging and pushing the ball around but didn’tspare an opportunity to punish anything lose.Atapattu was associated in two useful partnerships.For the third wicket with Aravinda de Silva, he added 64 runs. DeSilva, who started the day at 18, was adjudged leg before byEnglishman John Hampshire off Aamir Sohail when he failed to read anarm ball.For the fourth wicket, Atapattu put on 65 runs with Mahela Jayawardenawho threw away his wicket by playing an irresponsible shot. He triedto hit Aamir Sohail’s flighted delivery over Shahid Afridi’s head whowas fielding at cover. But he failed to get the required elevation asthe crowd favourite jumped in the air to take a good catch but not adifficult one.Aamir Sohail bowled to a teasing line and length to finish with twofor 24. Abdur Razzaq, whose figures were spoiled by Muralitharan endedup with two for 39 while Arshad Khan was not truly rewarded for his 45overs in which he conceded 70 runs and picked up the wicket ofTillekeratne Dilshan by beating the newcomer in the air.