Saqib Khan Takes Seven on Debut as Pakistan and Sri Lanka Draw First Test in Rawalpindi

The first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium ended in a draw on Friday, 13 November, after five days in which rain and bad light took a large share of the playing time. Pakistan debutant Saqib Khan took 7 for 130 in Sri Lanka's only innings and was named player of the match.

How the match unfolded

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl. Pakistan declared their first innings at 434 for 9 on the second day, built on a series of half-centuries. Saud Shakeel top-scored with 93, Arafat Minhas made a maiden Test fifty, and two other debutants, Tayyab Arif and Mohammad Taha, also passed 50 in their first Test innings. Asitha Fernando reached 100 Test wickets during the innings and finished with 3 for 107.

Sri Lanka replied with 446, a lead of 12. Dhananjaya de Silva made 167 and captain Kusal Mendis 119, and at one stage the visitors were 404 for 4. Saqib then turned the innings around, taking five of his seven wickets in a spell of eight overs as the last six wickets fell for 42 runs.

Nearly two sessions were lost on the fourth day, and Pakistan’s second innings was never likely to produce a result. Shakeel fell three short of a hundred for 97, and the teams shook hands with Pakistan on 284 for 8. Milan Rathnayake was Sri Lanka’s best bowler in that innings with 3 for 47.

What comes next

The two-match series remains level going into the second and final Test, which runs from 17 to 21 November. That match has also been moved to Rawalpindi; it was first scheduled for the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, but smog in the city forced the change.

Pakistan handed out four Test caps in this match, to Tayyab Arif, Mohammad Taha, Arafat Minhas and Saqib Khan, in a side led by Babar Azam. Saqib's return was the standout bowling performance of a match dominated by the bat, in which only 27 wickets fell across five days and all three innings passed 280.