JOIN USThe left-hander made an undefeated 109 and added 118 for the opening wicket with Hafeez and another unbroken 141 for the third wicket with Azhar Ali (60 batting) as Pakistan reached 259/1 by stumps, a lead of 62 with eight wickets intact.
If it was Pakistani bowlers’ day, with Junaid Khan taking five wickets, on Tuesday it was batsmen’s turn on Wednesday, further blunting an ordinary looking Sri Lankan bowling attack.
Umar, Hafeez and Ali batted without any trouble on an unresponsive pitch to frustrate the Sri Lankans who remained in a search for an elusive wicket in the first and thrid session.
Ali, who completed his tenth fifty in his 14th Test, ably supported Umar.
It was Umar, who edged Herath towards third man for a couple to take Pakistan past Sri Lanka’s first-innings total of 197. The ease with which Pakistani batsmen were coping, Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan immediately took the second new ball in the 81st over as their only chance to stage a fightback.
But even that did not bring any luck for the Islanders.
Score board
SRI LANKA (I Innings): 197
PAKISTAN (I Innings; O/n: 27/0):
Hafeez lbw Herath 75
Umar (batting) 109
Ali (batting) 60
Extras (B-3, NB-12) 15
Total (for 1 wkt, 98 overs) 259
Fall of wickets: 1-118.
Bowling: Welegedara 16-1-56-0, Lakmal 13-3-58-0, Herath 35-10-55-1, Fernando 15-0-57-0, Dilshan 19-6-30-0.