Abdullah Shafique scored an unbeaten 160 in the fourth innings to lead Pakistan to a historic 4-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first test match at Galle.
The opener guided Pakistan to the 340-run target where the previous highest successful fourth-innings chase was 268 by Sri Lanka against New Zealand in 2019.
Resuming the day on 222 for 3, Mohammad Rizwan and Abdullah Shafique added 54 valuable runs in the morning session to close in on the target.
Sri Lanka struck back through the wickets of Rizwan (40) and debuting Agha Salman (12) before lunch to leave the game in the balance.
Hasan Ali soon found himself back in the pavilion after skying his shot with Pakistan still needing 37 runs to clinch the win.
Joined by a capable Mohammad Nawaz, Abdullah Shafique (who had been dropped twice on the fifth day) and his new partner played a sensible knock to chip away at the target to cruise to a win at the end without further drama.
It was also Pakistan’s second highest chase in Tests in their history.
For Sri Lanka Prabath Jayasuriya was once again the pick of the bowlers, finishing with the figures of 4 for 135 from his 56.2 overs. Had Sri Lanka hung on to the catches it could have been a very different story.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka will meet again at the same venue for the second and last test match of the series.
