On Day 4 of the Galle test, Pakistan kept punching the hosts and denting their hopes to save this test, as they are only 83 runs away from the win. Pakistan‘s spin attack took 8 wickets in total in the second innings.
Sri Lankan batters again fall flat against Pakistan’s spin attack. Only the savior of the first innings for Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, shines again in the second innings, scoring 82 runs before losing his wicket to the delivery of Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Top Performer Of The Day
Dhananjaya de Silva, the star of the first innings, proved to be a lone warrior once again for Sri Lanka. DD Silva scored 82 runs in just 118 balls, which included 10 fours and 2 sixes, before edging one to the keeper. Another small contribution was made with the bat by the Sri Lanka bowling all-rounder Ramesh Mendis. He added a crucial 42 runs while batting with DD Silva, but he was given out LBW on Abrar Ahmed’s delivery, as three reds showed on the decision review.
The day was dominated by the Pakistani spinners, who took 8 wickets on day 4. Noman Ali, who went wicketless in the first innings, made a comeback by taking 3 wickets, dismissing Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis, and Angelo Mathews.
Abrar Ahmed also took 3 wickets, starting with the Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne, and important wickets of Ramesh Mendis and Kasun Rajitha. Despite these two spinner’s performances, Pakistan’s part-time bowler Agha Salman also played an important role in getting the hosts all out. He took two vital wickets of Dinesh Chandimal and Sadeera Samarawickrama.
Pakistan Marching Towards First 12 Points Of WTC 2023-25 cycle
Pakistani fans would not accept any more drama from their team, as they were already 3 down at the end of the day’s play. A straightforward chase was expected to happen, but Sri Lanka’s prime spin bowler, Prabath Jayasuriya, did his job for the day by sending two Pakistani batsmen, Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood, back to the dressing room. At stumps of day 4, Pakistan was 48-3 and are 83 runs away from their first win in the WTC 2023-25 cycle.
However, more spin will come into play on Day 5, and Pakistan is left with only 7 wickets in hand. Sri Lanka desperately needs early wickets at the start of Day 5. They are running out of hope, as 83 runs can be a chase-able score, which will not take more than a session if Sri Lanka fails to take wickets.
What To Expect On Day 5
Well, there’s not much to expect, as Pakistan is the clear favorite from here. They need just 83 runs to win this test and go 1-0 up in the Two Test match series. It’s clearly Pakistan’s game to lose from here, as Sri Lanka was clueless when their batting line-up failed to achieve a good total in their 2nd innings.
Most likely, Pakistan will go to chase the total in the morning session itself, but you can never be 100% certain with this unpredictable Pakistan cricket team, who can do anything that no other team can even imagine in their worst nightmares.
We have seen in the past the theatrics of Cricket played by Pakistan and witnessed them do out of the box things that no one could expect. We will see tomorrow if Sri Lanka can weave a spin web on Pakistan batters or if it will be an uncomplicated chase by the Babar Azam led side.
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