Pakistan batters build a strong first-innings platform of 434 for nine and then reduce Sri Lanka to 114 for three by the close of the second day in Rawalpindi. Saud Shakeel top-scores with 93, narrowly missing a century, while multiple debutants contribute half-centuries as Pakistan maintain control after declaring at 434-9.
The matches are set within the ICC World Test Championship cycle, with Pakistan and Sri Lanka both playing under conditions described as green for pace early on. Across the coverage, debutant Tayyab Arif and other first-time players are repeatedly highlighted for making starts and reaching key milestones, including Arif’s 57 and Arafat Minhas’s 52, alongside a series of half-centuries that Pakistan’s innings features. Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam also reaches a fifty.
Sri Lanka’s reply begins with early wickets from Pakistan’s fast bowlers, and play ends because of bad light after 27.1 overs. Sri Lanka resume with Kamindu Mendis unbeaten on 40 and captain Dhananjaya de Silva on 22, still trailing by a large margin.
