Sangakkara ton puts Sri Lanka on top

Kumar Sangakkara’s

SHARJAH, (Reuters) – Kumar Sangakkara’s 27th test  century helped Sri Lanka reach 245 for two and into a strong  position at stumps on the first day of their must-win third and  final test against Pakistan in neutral Sharjah yesterday.  
 
Sangakkara (112 not out) is 11th on the all-time list of  test century scorers and alongside the similarly prolific Mahela  Jayawardene (32 not out), who is closing on 10,000 test runs, he  helped the team recover from an early setback. 
  

Kumar Sangakkara’s

Opener Tharanga Paranavitana was caught at slip by Younis  Khan off Umar Gul for four on the fifth delivery of the day, a  ball after being dropped at short leg by Azhar Ali.   

Sangakkara then came to the crease with captain Tillakaratne  Dilshan (92) and the pair’s 173-run second-wicket partnership  helped Sri Lanka build a solid platform as they seek to draw the  series they trail 1-0.  

Dilshan has struggled in the series with a top score of 19  but looked a different player during his innings, cut  agonisingly short of a century by a Saeed Ajmal spinner that  caught the edge and was poached by Younis at first slip.  
 
Sri Lanka have scored over 300 only once in their four  innings in the series so far, during the drawn first test in Abu  Dhabi, and Pakistan claimed an easy nine-wicket win in the  second in Dubai.   
 
The “home” matches for Pakistan are being played in the Gulf  region due to security concerns.      

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Sri Lanka first innings  
T. Paranavitana c Y. Khan b Gul        4
T. Dilshan c Y. Khan b Ajmal             92  
K. Sangakkara not out                        112                        
M. Jayawardene not out                     32                                                            
Extras: (lb-3, nb-2)                                5                          
Total: (two wickets; 86 overs)     245
Fall of wickets: 1-4 2-177   
To bat: A. Mathews, K. Silva, K. Kulasekara,
S. Randiv, R.  Herath, D. Prasad, C. Welegedara       
Bowling: (to date): Gul 17-6-43-1 (1nb), J. Khan 17-2-63-0  (1nb), Ajmal 27-3-71-1, Rehman 24-5-62-0, Hafeez 1-0-3-0   
Pakistan: M. Hafeez, T. Umar, A. Ali, Y. Khan, Misbah-ul  Haq, A. Shafiq, A. Akmal, U. Gul, A. Rehman, S. Ajmal, J. Khan   
Pakistan lead the three-match series 1-0.